MUL:Purgatory
by murloc rampage
Summary: Nintendo released a brand new Pokemon MMORPG game in Japan! It's great! You get the chance to not only interact with pokemon... but you can be murdered by them. Why bother hiding it, you're trapped in here. You can't leave, but you can hide. Only the brave can fight for their freedom while the weak die. One boy makes his choice and starts his journey to free himself.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Inspired by SAO/Abridged in case anyone asks. However, it will be different later down the line.

{Rui's Point of View}

-Year 2041-

[Japan]

(Narrated by my own voice), "Hello... my name is Rui and I live in the real world..."

I almost get hit by a car, "Get out of the way you idiot!"

I quickly stammered, "S-Sorry!"

I sprinted to the other side and stood on the sidewalk before looking down at the bag in my hand. In it is a large cardboard box with other smaller boxes. I stared at them for a long time before walking ahead.

(Narrated by my own voice), "Now that I think back... my choice... my need, to experience what I got... drove me to my situation."

Pokemon aren't real... they have never been real, no matter how much fans... or I... wanted them to be. For the past 20 years, Nintendo has made shitty remakes for all 7 generations of games. Each one added in only one interested thing, if that. Fans were quickly becoming sick of it until the past success of Pokemon Go gave the creators of Nintendo a brand new idea. New technology called Nerve Gear recently came out of development with the ability to suck the entire being of players into the game. With this new technology Pokemon took a whole step forward but gave them a new twist. From the leaked information, this game is a MMORPG with multiple classes and choices. I knew what I was going to be... it filled me with joy knowing I can finally do what I always wanted.

(Narrator with my voice), "Little did I know, what I always wanted would end up horrifying me."

My excitement caused me to run my way home, eager to get all the gear set up. My parents own a small one floor home, but we were happy there. My brother got a job at Nintendo, so my family moved here to support him. I was really happy, all his hard work paid off, and now I get to reap the benefits. Neither of my parents were home, allowing me to run inside and barge into my room. It was rather small because of my large bed and drawers, but my closet is pretty big. Next to my bed is a small desk for a very expensive computer and router.

I laid on my bed, "Home at last..." I smiled.

Suddenly my pocket jingled as my ringtone started to played, "Great... what now?" I asked myself, pulling out my phone, "Hello?"

It was my friend Jay, "Yo man! Did you get the hook up?"

I started laughing, giving him a bit of shit for not greeting me properly, "Oh hi, my day was great, how was yours?"

Jay sighed into the phone, "Sorry, how was your day bro?"

I shrugged, "It was fine. Claire is a fucking bitch as usual but fuck her, and that hoe Charlie."

Jay laughed a bit, "You need to stop picking fights with them man, it's not good for you. Karma is a bitch, you know?"

I did a mock laugh, "Yeah, I guess."

Jay tried to hide his excitement, "Now... did you get the hook up?"

I smirked, "Of course. Who else has an older brother in Nintendo with connections to get this shit free?"

I could hear Jay jumping for joy, "Dude, all four of us got it. I'm so happy we all moved here, but the tv is still weird as fuck."

I laughed, "Hey, the Japanese people are weird as a whole, just look at their anime."

Jay stopped laughing, "I'll see you in the game, peace man."

I smiled, "Peace Jay."

Jay suddenly yelled, "Oh! That reminds me! My username will be BlueJay69."

I stared at the wall, "Really? 69?"

Jay started laughing before hanging up. I knew he was being serious and just sighed. Without any further hindrance, I began unboxing the nerve gear and game. It came with a manual, meaning I had to follow it exactly to hook up the power source and internet. I think everything took an hour, and it also had a warning about playing for too long. The real world will always be a priority.

I read the warning aloud, "Warning, players can die of dehydration or hunger, which the latter is unlikely, if left unattended for days. Be sure to alert family and friends in order to ensure your safety. Also, make sure not to allow yourself to play for extensive amounts of time."

I glanced at the nerve gear for a moment before examining it. The helmet itself had a warning not to open it and examine the inside. I wondered why but didn't really care since I wanted to play the game. I opened more of the boxes and found the game I was about to play. The title is Pokemon MMO, are you a tamer, fighter or what?.

I turned it over, "Huh... it has no info on the back..."

I opened the case and slid the Multi-Media-Extra or MME disc into a slick black cube like device. The wire attached to the Nerve gear connects to the cube device with two separate plugs to empower both. I booted up my computer and followed more instructions to create an account externally. I knew Jay's name but he would probably make it inside the game but what should my name be? Hm... Shadow? Dark? Oh wait... we make the public name inside the game. The private name will be... Hm.

I grinned as I put the name in and waited for the account to be verified, "Hm... and..." My phone began to buzz, "Awesome. I got the email."

I entered in the verification code before getting a thumbs up on the computer. With everything set, I put the helmet on and got a little nervous. I wondered what it was going to feel like as I turned it on.

Across a black screen, green lettering began to appear, "Link processing... ... ... and START!"

Then, in a flash, I could feel my entire being sucked into the game and woke up floating in an endless void. A small white screen appeared and told me to place my dominant hand on it. I placed my right hand on it, watching the screen scan. Once the process was complete, it disappeared, making me put my hand down.

The screen appeared again and asked, "Do you wish to play as a male or female?"

"Male." I replied.

"Please indicate your age." it asked.

"13 years old."

A series of dots apeared and waved up and down before the screen said, "This game is rated M for mature, do you have parental consent?"

I answered, "Yes."

The screen gave a thumbs up, "Good enough for me. Now choose your class."

An extensive list appeared but I quickly chose the only one I wanted. It asked to confirm my choice and I accepted. I'm playing as a Swordsman, to which I'm thoroughly excited. In a flash, I awoke laying in a beautiful anime style grass field with tiny pokemon frolicking about. I slowly stood up and looked around to see a town off in the distance. Past that... I looked up and up and... oh god... there was a gigantic tower of floors leading up to a spear tip like top. Realistic clouds floated around with several flying pokemon. My menu popped up with a small ding, earning my attention.

Words on the screen said, "Congratulation for being one of the first 10000 players. You've been given a new item as a present."

I tapped the screen and watched as a small green present opened and revealed a tiny sword called the beginner's triumph. It was a level 1 weapon with a damage rating of 5.

I equipped it and examined the tiny basic sword, "It'll do for now."

I looked around and found a tiny rattata walking towards me. Without warning, it attacked me but I jumped over it. A tiny red crystal appeared above it as the Rattata hissed at me. A health bar with the pokemon's name appeared with a Lv. 1 next to it.

I readied my sword, extending it forward, "Attack me Rat."

The Rattata hissed again and tried to tackle me, only to be swatted like an insect. It's health bar dropped by 25% as it fell onto it's back. I ran forward and sliced the Rattata in half with my sword. With a loud squeal, the Rattata exploded into tiny green shards that floated up and disappeared instantly.

A white screen popped up over it's body saying Exp. 6 and Gold 0. I noticed my health bar is on the top right of my vision with a slim exp bar. My level was over the green bar next to my name. Instead of using my real name, I decided to name myself Roy. It's not original but I didn't care at the time and probably never will. I opened up my menu and began searching for players until I received a message.

I was confused, "Hm?"

It was Jay's voice recorded, "Hey Rui, look behind you."

I flinched and turned around to see Jay, "Hello Jay."

He grinned, "Greetings comrade... boy... you look nothing like yourself on this game. Pft, why the hell do you have emo hair?"

I shrugged, "It wasn't my choice... oh yeah, there's a Tepig aggroing on you."

He turned around, "Where!?"

"Tepig!" We heard before Jay was tackled.

He fell back, losing 10% of his health bar but he held his nuts in pain, "Oh god! Ugh! Damn it!"

I sighed, "Two minutes in and you're already sucking at this."

He yelled, "Screw you man! That thing is a pig from hell! It went for my nuts!"

I snickered before throwing my sword at it suddenly. The Tepig flinched in surprise as the sword stabbed through it's head and body. Its health bar went to zero as it shattered into green shards like the Rattata. A white screen appeared saying shared Exp. 3 and gold 0.

I started laughing, "Would you look at that 69 guy. I killed a pig from hell."

Jay flared up, "Shut the hell up!"

I laughed, "Where's Derek and Anthony at?"

Jay tilted his head in thought, "Dunno, they said they'd get on in a bit but I'll go check."

I stopped him from opening his menu, "Wait, did they at least say what they'd name themselves? If so, we can just search them right now to save you the trouble. Think about it, if they're already in the game, then wouldn't they be unable to answer your call?"

Jay frowned, "You're right. Then how about you search them up and I go call them."

I nodded, "Alright." I brought up my menu.

Jay got up and did the same but suddenly asks, "Uh... Rui. I know this is a total noob question but how do I sign out?"

I started snickering, "First it's demon pig, now you can't figure that out."

He said, "Come on man, it's nerve gear! I can't Alt F4 this shit!"

I pulled up my menu, "You see it's right..." It wasn't there, "Here?"

Jay frowned, "Oh thanks a lot tutorial."

I shook my head, "No, it's here but it's just blank for some reason."

Jay grinned, "Then I'll just take the helmet like..." He swiped his hands up like he took off a helmet, "So!"

I gave him a blank stare, "Nerve gear doesn't work like that, you dumbass. It disables all your body's motor functions, didn't you read the manual?"

Jay looked at me funny, "There was a manual?"

I was going to say something but suddenly we began to shine brightly before teleporting to a town center. I looked around in shock to see thousands of players looking around in shock as well. Jay nudged my shoulder and pointed at the sky until is began to darken. Everyone's murmuring began to die down as Arceus descended from it.

"Greetings Players. My name is Takata Haruchi, creator of the nerve gear and lead Programmer of Pokemon MMO, or as I call it, Purgatory."

Everyone began to murmur again as Jay asked, "Why does he call it that?"

Arceus spoke again, "Now, as you may have noticed, there is no longer a way to log out of Pokemon MMO. Also, if anyone tries to take off your nerve gear in the real world, the helmet will emit killer hypersonic waves into your ears. These will kill your real bodies instantly. Also, if your health reaches 0, your real bodies perish as well."

Someone yelled, "What!?"

Arceus grunted, "Okay, If you die in the game, you die for real!"

The same guy yelled, "What!?"

Arceus sighed, "Does everyone else understand? Yes? Okay. Let's continue. The only way to safely get out of Pokemon MMO is to fight through all 100 floors and defeat the final boss."

Someone else asked, "So you want us to beat your MMO?"

Arceus nodded, "Essentially."

That guy yelled, "Fuck you!"

Arceus laughed, "Nice. You're one of the ones who'll die first!"

The guy asked, "When was the last time you heard someone beating Runescape!?"

Arceus chuckled, "When was the last time you've heard of someone Playing Runescape?"

The guy said, "...That's fair."

Arceus looked around, "Any questions? No. Well then, now to deal with the perverted freaks who wanted to play as girl, and, you know who you are. I have a surprise for you."

Arceus began to shine brightly as everyone is encased in a white light. Next thing I knew, I was blinking quickly at Jay.

"Huh?" I said, noticing Jay looked like his real self except he wore leather armor.

Jay looked just as surprised, "Dude, your emo hair is gone!"

I looked at myself to see I was 4 foot 6 wearing tan colored leather armor with a plain blue T-shirt underneath. My spiky black hair waved slightly with my Hazel eyes sparkling a bit. Basic tan colored shorts and shoes covered my bottom half. My white caucasian skin looked a bit brighter.

Jay stood at 4 foot 8 wearing tanned Leather armor with a dark red T-shirt underneath. His brown hair is cut short with the front bangs dyed black. His brown eyes looked darker than normal with white caucasian skin like mine. To cover his bottom half, he had tan pants with the same tanned shoes.

Arceus got our attention, "Now I've revealed you for what you truly are! ...Barely attractive 20 somethings... good for you... I thought most of you would be fat slobs living in your mother's basements. I was sure wrong on the player demographic. Holy crap, there are women playing this game? Wait... 40% are women!? What the fu... shouldn't you all be searching for a man!?"

One women yelled, "Hey! No need to be a sexist asshole!"

Arceus laughed, "Alright. I've given you all what you needed to know. Oh! One more thing, I disabled the profanity filter. Have fun with that."

Arceus disappeared instantly, leaving everyone in shock for a moment before a man yelled, "We're fucked!"

Everyone began to panic, pushing and shoving each other as they freaked out over the news. Jay and I ran into a nearby alley, watching everyone panic.

"What should we do?" Jay asked.

I grunted, "Shit... the skilled players are going to get the side quests as soon as possible. You need to find Derek and Anthony, train with them."

Jay looked at me, "What about you?"

I sighed, "I'm going to go on ahead and find any sidequest I can do."

Jay was confused, "You're going to play solo? Why!?"

I looked down, "It'll help me level up faster and get better items. I need you to help Derek and Anthony so you won't die. I'll be fine on my own, I've always been a loner anyways."

Jay tapped my shoulder, "Alright buddy... Good luck."

I gave him a curt nod before running down the alley. I ran out of the town, which is known as the Town of Origin, and ran along a path to a new town.

~~~End of Prologue~~~

~~~More Coming in June~~~

(There you have it. I hope this will pique your interest. Please Follow, Follow or review to support this story. Thank you for reading!)


	2. Chapter 1

Ch. 1 Training

-Murloc_Rampage Office-

Murloc_Rampage is seen typing on his 3ds, which is how he types, until another person barges into the room, "What the fuck is this!?" He demands.

Murloc_Rampage barely looks at it, "At first glance, it looks like a shopping list."

The man is taken aback, "Wait, what?" He examines it before shoving it into his pocket.

Murloc_Rampage continues to ignore his presence but still says, "You know I'm busy, correct?"

The man groans, "I'm here because of this bullshit." He slams a file on the desk, "You're posting chapter 1 of Purgatory, why!? Don't you see what kind of hypocrite that'll make you!?"

Murloc_Rampage shrugs, "It's a reward for the 9 reviews and all other support its gotten. Nothing wrong with that, besides, what will one more chapter do?"

The man slams his hands on the desk, "It'll get more people hyped. What if you get 9 more reviews, all for this chapter?"

Murloc_Rampage snickered, "Then I'll make another chapter. Big whoop. 9 reviews is a big deal to me, and I like rewarding my readers for reviewing."

The man grabs his head groaning, "What if they keep doing that?"

Murloc_Rampage laughed, "They won't, fanfiction is far too inconsistent, not only that, but 9 people reviewing is unheard-of for my stories. We barely get 3 reviews a chapter."

The man shook his head, "I don't know man. You may be biting off more than you can chew."

Murloc_Rampage smiled at him, "Whatever you say, the door is right there. Don't let it hurt you on the ass, on your way out.

(In all seriousness, thank you so much guys for the support. As a show of appreciation, I decided to give you guys chapter 1. Enjoy. Please Favorite, follow and/or review to support this story.)

{Rui's Point of View}

[Status of the game so far]

Top Player of The Current Chapter: JustinThePokemonMaster

Gender: Male

Age: 22 years old

Level: 12

Class: Pokemon Tamer

Main Pokemon: Beedrill Lv. 15

Weapon: N/A

Skills: 0

Guild: N/A

Quests Completed: 27

Players Left in the Game: 2.58 million.

Players that have died: 2,547

Highest Floor reached: 1st

Floor Bosses defeated: 0

-2 weeks later-

I woke up in an alley, looking around drowsily. I yawned, stretching from the uncomfortable living conditions. When the game first started, I left quickly to try to gain some quests for exp, instead, the veteran players already got to all of them before I did. The only thing left for me to do is to grind and do small errands for the NPCs. Sadly, the errands only gifts the player 10 gold and only 100 exp. I've done at least 30 errands and spent 16 hours a day, for the past two weeks, grinding. Not many players have realized there's a style set system in the game. The game calls it Expertise, it revolves around fighting styles. I use a one handed sword style with no shield. It's called One handed, obviously, and, like all the others, has 20 ranks. The twentieth rank is achieved through 10,000 hours of battle with one handed swords. It takes 500 hours to reach the next rank. Even with all the hours I've spent training, I only reached about halfway to the first rank.

I stared at my weapon, it's the same one I've had since the prologue, "Two weeks... and I've only reached level 5 and have no gold to spend.

I only had about 567 gold from all the battles, errands, and money spent of food and drink. The best thing I could buy is 1 health potion, which costs about 350 gold. With all the players on the same floor, there weren't enough rooms to house everyone. That meant only the top players got to stay in the inns.

Once I got out of the alley, I noticed a male player walking with a female NPC. They held each other's hand gently, smiling as if nothing was wrong. I frowned, watching them walk as I began to realize what's going on. The game's AI is far beyond its time, gaining a realistic personality. Even I've felt as if they're a real person at times. NPC merchants can be reasoned with, they spread gossip and rumors, some even try to approach you for dates.

I whispered to myself, "Why did he make it seem like they're real?"

Someone called out to me, "Hey Rui!"

I looked over my shoulder to see Jay running towards me, he was only level 2, "Have you heard?" he looked concerned.

I turned my body to face him, "Heard what?"

He pointed over his shoulder with a thumb, "There's a big meeting in town square. All the top players asked everyone to be there."

Derek showed up behind Jay, "Hey, it's time to go. Anthony is waiting for us."

Derek is 15 years old, not only is he the oldest of us four, he's also the tallest. When standing tall, Derek is easily 5 foot 10, maybe taller. Like me and Jay, he has white skin but it's a bit lighter than ours. Before he cut and dyed his hair, it used to be brown but even in the game, it's different. The short hair is a light green with gold piercings in his earlobes. One of his coldest features, is his gray eyes that just seem to stare through you. I sometimes joke that he stares at people's souls this way. His nose is crooked with a normal length and slightly pointed tip with thin lips like mine.

Since he stood behind Jay, I couldn't see what he was wearing. On the other hand, I can guess it's the exact same gear every rookie wears. Light leather armor that only covers your chest, with a T-shirt underneath. Derek might be wearing shorts, maybe pants... who knows.

Jay looked at him, "Alright Derek. Say, what do you think about training around the starting town?"

Derek shrugged, "We won't get much exp but... It's also the safest."

I waved at Derek, "Hi."

Derek smiled, "What's up?"

I cracked my neck, "Sleeping in Alleyways."

Derek nodded a bit, "Cool."

An idea popped in my head, "Speaking of training, you guys should do errands in that town. Players usually avoid them but they're an easy 100 exp and 10 gold each."

Jay and Derek both bumped fists with me, "Thanks man. Will do. Cone on, let's see what the elites want."

I followed them, "Elites? They're not the best yet."

Jay shook his head, shrugging, "They're the best so far."

[1st Floor-Sepulva(Town Square)]

When we arrived at the town Square, about 700,000 players were huddled around the top players. We couldn't get any closer to hear what's going on but Anthony ran over to us.

Anthony looked happy, "You guys made it."

Anthony is 14 years old with short light brown hair, kind of like Derek's original hair. His white skin is the same pigment as mine with bright green eyes. His lips are bigger than mine but not by much. He stands at 4 foot 10, making me the shortest, sadly, however, that doesn't bother me. He wore the Leather armor but had a white shirt underneath with white shorts. His shoes are exactly like mine, pure black sneakers.

I smiled, giving Anthony a handshake, "How have you been?" I asked kindly.

Anthony kept his smile, "I've been great."

Derek got Anthony in a headlock, gently grinding his knuckles on Anthony's head, "This guy is an expert marksman already."

Anthony tried to push Derek, "Ow! Stop it Derek."

Jay and I laughed as Derek let him go. Our laughter is cut short as our menus started to appear. The players began to broadcast to everyone, that way, everyone could hear them.

"Everyone, it's been 2 weeks since we've been stuck in this game. 2000 people have died already, and it's been decided what we should do. The best players are joining up into the same Clan and leaving all of you."

Everyone began to murmur but another player spoke, "We've been stuck in this town because the road is too treacherous to go alone. All the enemies between this town and the next is lvl 8 or higher. We have to group up in order to stay safe. On the bright side, all of you will be able to leave up from quests with our absence."

More murmurs erupted, most positive and other negative. I looked at my friends to see them looking pretty neutral.

Another top player began to speak, "Like most of you, I want to go back to the real world. I want to see my daughter again before she goes to school, not after. There are still millions of us and if we work hard, most of us can escape alive. I think that's what's important, getting most of us back home. Goodbye everyone."

Our menus collapsed as the murmurs died down from those around us. Derek did his best to see and told us that the top players were leaving. Only 4000 players were leaving and I had to check the leaderboards. I was ranked 2,134,913 out of 2.8 million players. I hung my head, thinking about how hard I've been training.

A voice interrupted my thoughts, "Hey, level 5 guy!"

I turned to see a player, who's level 6, approach me. He wore the standard leather gear like the rest of us but had tanned skin and long blonde hair. His eyes are blue and has a short bow strapped along his back with a quiver. He towered over me, standing a 6 foot 3 and looked about 17 years old.

His voice is a bit deeper than mine, "I'm currently stuck on a quest and I'm gathering a party to complete it. If you help, I'll give you access to it. You'll get 2500 exp but you'll only get a shared amount of 500 or less gold. How does that sound?"

I immediately agreed, "Of course!"

The level 6 player smiled, "That's great! I'll gather two more players. Here, I'll friend you and send over the quest now."

I accepted both, "Thank you... Klink?"

Klink grinned, "Alright, I'll meet you at the East exit of town in about 1 hour. See you there."

I waved my goodbyes as he left before turning to my friends. They looked excited for me, quickly saying their farewells. The crowd began dispersing quickly as I decided to use 10 gold in order to get something to eat. It was a piece of bread with butter but I needed to eat and drink something at least once a day. The game included hunger and thirst to increase its realism.

Once an hour passed, I waited for my party to show up, which, they did.

Klink greeted me first, "Yo! Glad you made it, I'll introduce you. This young girl is Carly and the older gentleman is Gary."

The girl looked about 15 years old with a very positive attitude. She visibly bounced with either joy or just plain energy. Her blonde hair matched Klink's but extended past her waistline. Her eyes are a beautiful shade of scarlet but added a strangely crazy tone to them. Sadly, she was taller than me, standing tall at 4 foot 11, almost 5 feet even and she's flat chested. She wore a loose white tank top that had no sleeves and the collar stretch down as a V cut. Underneath it, a black sports bra keep her breasts in check. Other than that, she wore no set of armor to cover her torso. Black short shorts with a long red and black speckled skirt over it. Next to her name, which is actually Neko451, her level is displayed as level 8.

I smiled at her, "Hello Carly."

She bounced happily, "I'll so ready to do this quest!"

I looked at Gary to seem him look pretty neutral, "Not excited?"

Gary looks about 23 years old with short red hair and brown eyes. His skin pigment matched mine but his body is extremely muscular. The red t-shirt and leather armor he wore looked tight on him. Bluish grey shorts covered most of his legs with a battle ax in his right hand. Gary is the same height as Klink, making me feel self conscious. Gary's account name is Be4UDie, his level, 7.

Gary walked by me, "Let's get this over with."

I looked at Klink, "I guess he's impatient."

Klink shrugged, "I don't know, but with the four of us, this'll be a cakewalk."

I wasn't sure but Carly gave me a gentle shove, "You going or not?" she asked rather rudely.

I frowned a bit, "Alright, I'm moving."

As Carly moved ahead, she bounced with energy. Gary and Klink walked side by side but didn't speak a word. I didn't trust any of these people, but I needed to work with them. The enemies will be a higher level than normal and the quest gives us a large sum of exp. It's a necessary risk but I have a teleportation crystal in my inventory. I got one as an enemy drop, which is pretty rare in general.

We followed a dirt road through a meadow of pink and yellow flowers. Floettes flew from flower to flower, trying to drink the virtual nectar. The smells seems so real and the air is almost too fresh. Sometimes I wonder what the creators really made, a game or a real world. I remembered back to that player who's dating an NPC. Did he give up hope or did he forget that this world isn't real.

I started thinking to myself bitterly, 'I never got a chance to date or kiss a girl in real life. Now I'm stuck here with no chance to make it home with the next year. I wonder how my family is taking this.'

Carly walked beside me, leaning over while walking, "You are lost in thought... are you thinking about me!?"

I blushed hard, snapping out of my thoughts, "What!? No!"

Carly grinned, "I'm just teasing you."

I looked ahead, "How can you be so positive while we're stuck in this game?"

Carly smiled, "Simple. What's the point in moping when we have so much to do. If we want to live and see the sun again, we need to focus on winning. Not crying about life being unfair."

I picked up my head in surprise before looking at her smiling face, "You're right. Thank you Carly."

Carly crossed her arms behind her head as she walked, "You must be a solo player."

I was a bit shocked but I didn't want to question how, "Yes. That's why I'm level 5, despite never talking a quest."

Carly grinned, "Since I'm a girl, hundreds of guys ask me out on dates, or share quests with me. As a boy, you'll never get such a privilege I'm afraid."

I shrugged, "It's fine. There were only 100,000 quests available a day. There's over 2.5 million players playing on the only server this game has. Once we get to the higher floors, more and more players will be able to get quests."

Carly glanced at me, "So, what will you do, hypothetically, when you reach the higher floors?"

I shrugged again, "I don't know. It depends on my training and level at the time."

Carly ran ahead, pretending to be a plane with fake plane noises. Gary snickered a bit but shook his head disapprovingly. I walked a bit faster, getting closer to Klink.

I asked him, "What will the quest enemies be like?"

Klink tilted his head in wonder, "I'm not sure. All I know is this, the required level is 5 or higher and there's a missing NPC involved."

I sighed, "Rescue mission. There might be a boss pokemon at a higher level than the nearby encounters."

Gary joined in, "You're probably right, but it could be a swarm as well. There are places with higher level pokemon who act and think on their own. Well... that's what I've been told anyways."

I was intrigued, "Who told you that?"

Gary sighed in defeat, "I... I don't know. It could have been a player or an NPC. There's so much traffic, knowing who you've met is a daunting task."

I hung my head, "Yeah. Lately, player company has started to get worse. Thief classes are started to use their abilities on sleeping players with nowhere to go."

Gary grunted, "That happened to me a weak ago."

I looked through my menu until I found a new list, "Hey, I found the talent skills."

All three of them looked interested, "Talent skills?" Klink asked.

I scrolled through it, "Yeah, it's the list of skills that includes cooking, detection, eavesdropping, etc."

Gary pointed at my detection skill, "That one is pretty high. Level 15, not bad."

I smiled a bit, "Thanks."

Carly jumped onto Gary's back, "Go brave stead! Mush!"

Gary yelled, "I'm not a dog or a horse!"

Carly giggled, "But you're big and strong like a horse!"

Gary groaned, "That doesn't mean I'm a horse."

Carly cheered, "Yay! You said you're a horse!"

They started arguing, causing me to block my ears with a sigh. We still had a hour of walking ahead of us to the Beginner's Forest. I've been there once while I was exploring for my map. It's filled with level 6 and 7 pokemon, so I retreated. Excited swelled inside me, I wanted to explore this place, and now I finally get the chance. The trees were a mixture of large and small. Some seemed to be the size of skyscrapers with a large bundle of leaves. I noticed Combee buzzing about before heading deeper into the forest.

Carly ran ahead, "Wow! They're so big!"

I immediately ran forward and killed a Weedle trying to fall on top of Carly, "Be careful!" I yelled.

She looked into my eyes for a moment before registering what I said, "R-Right! Sorry about that."

I put my sword away, "No harm, no foul. Come on."

Carly jumped a bit, "I'm with you!"

-20 minutes later-

We started getting closer to the quest point, but pokemon began to appear more frequently. Carly kept a watchful eye out, but stayed close to me. I admit, her close company was comforting, but it was also offsetting. If she stays near me, I might end up thinking a Pokemon is her instead.

"Um..." She tugged on my shoulder.

I glanced at her, "What is it?"

Carly blushed, "Thanks for... you know... saving me. If I got poisoned, I'd be dead for sure."

I waved it off, "Don't mention it."

Carly pushed the issue, "Can you friend me? You saved my life. I want to repay that debt. Like I've said, I get asked out a lot, and if I do, I want you beside me during those quests."

I shook my head, "I'm a solo player."

Carly smiled, "Then why are you with us?"

I bit my lip, "I... needed the exp."

Carly gave me a endearing look, "Then let me help you. I won't get a quest right away, but when I do, I'll contact you."

I watched her open up her menu and began pressing buttons. She didn't give me time to answer her at all either. My menu opened up, asking me if I want to accept her friend request. With a sigh, I pressed the check mark and accepted her request.

"Your welcome." I muttered.

Carly grinned, "I look forward to our time together... Murloc_Rampage?"

I shook my head, "Call me Rui."

Carly bounced excitedly, "Okay Rui!"

I looked ahead, trying to ignore her happy yips, but I found myself smiling. It's very lonely when you're a solo player, like me, but I can call Jay whenever I want.

Our travels came to an end when we finally found our objective. Sitting on a rock, two boys are tied up with 8 NPCs around them. All eight of them were human, male, wearing a makeshift fur/leather armor. Some weilded daggers, a battle ax, or a Scimitar. Their leader is an enemy called Bandit Captain. He was level 8 with a tanned pigment of skin and bulky muscles. His head is completely devoid of hair as he glared at us with a scowl. With his ax in hand, he killed one of the boys before grinning at us.

I glared at him, "I'll take the captain."

Gary placed his hand on my shoulder, "You can't do that, the Captain is level 8, you're only level 5."

I glanced at my status bar to see I was still level 5 with 950 hp and 2,574 exp out of 2,800 needed for the level up. I knew it'd be a bad idea to fight him one on one but...

I hung my head, "I need to fight him."

Gary whispered, "It's just an NPC."

I was going to argue but then I realized Gary was right, "Sorry. I shouldn't have gotten mad, but I hate seeing a child die like that."

The Bandit Captain pointed at us, "Kill them!" He yelled.

The rest of the bandits are level 5-7 and outnumbered us almost 2 to 1. Gary's strength helped even the odds by physically pushing back some of the bandits. I used my speed to quickly slash and hack some of the smaller bandits. When I killed one, the Bandit Captain jumped towards me, screaming with a Battle Ax over his head. I jumped back, catching myself on one hand and pushing to land on my feet.

I saw my level just ding to level 6 and my HP increased by 150. My stats increased as well, giving me a much needed confidence boost.

The Bandit Captain didn't like that as he tried to hit me with a vertical slice. I sidestepped it and kicked his hands. He looked at me, only to get an upwards slash from my sword. Next, I slashed an X across his chest before spinning quickly to hit him with a baseball swing. He grunted in pain, flying back, and dragged on the dirt with his heaoth bar decreasing. It only went down by 25% and allowed him to get up. I was too focused on him and ended up getting stabbed in the back by a smaller bandit.

I glanced at him to see a grin, "You sneaky scrub."

I smashed my elbow into his nose, causing him to let go of the dagger and hold his nose. It didn't bleed of course, but it gave me the time to grab him. I tossed him into the Bandit Captain before ripping out the dagger. I threw it with shaky accuracy into the Smaller bandits stomach.

I watched the smaller bandit shatter, "Another one down."

The Captain ran at me but I'm too quick and agile to get hit by his clumsy attacks. The Captain picked up his Ax and tried to slam it on me but I stood my ground. I held up my sword and blocked it, thinking I was superior. Then my sword snapped in two and the ax cut me down my stomach. I fell onto my back in pain, holding my stomach as the polygons restitched themselves.

"You're dead!" The Captain yelled until a dagger stabbed into his neck.

He staggered a bit until Carly jumped onto him and started stabbing the hell out of him. The Captain started screaming in pain as his health began to drop to 30%. He grabs Carly by her hair and threw her onto the ground, making her bounce slightly. When she slid to a halt, I ran over to check on Captain loomed over me, grabbing me by my head and picked me up.

He bean to squeeze, making my health bar drop quickly as he said, "You're dead. Ahg!"

I saw Gary pull back, his ax in hand, "Let go of him you cretin!"

The Captain's health dropped to 15% as he let go of my head. I slumped to the ground, feeling a headache form as my health reached down to 5%. I sat up and watched Gary take on the Captain with ease. After another attack, the Captain was defeated and we gained a shared amount of 200 exp. Gary walked over to me and helped me up.

I panted a bit, "Thanks."

Gary nodded, "Don't mention it."

I walked over to Carly and checked on her. She was unconscious but she is still breathing. I gently shook her and got her to wake up. She immediately grabbed her head in pain before sitting up. I looked around and saw Klink free the boy. A small menu screen appeared in front of us all, earning each of us 2500 exp and 300 gold. My exp bar went up to about 3/4, needing 800 exp to get level 7.

Klink looked at us, "Good job guys. Let's head back home."

As he said that, I could have sworn I saw something in the bushes behind him.

(That's it for chapter 1. More to come in June. Thank you everyone for the support.)


	3. Chapter 2

Ch. 2 Reaper

(Thank you everyone for reviewing, as thanks, I'm giving you guys chapter 2. Keep it up Please.)

-Murloc_Rampage's Office-

Murloc_Rampage finishes typing that author note before noticing his door open. The same man from before barges into the room and places a piece of paper in front of Murloc_Rampage.

Murloc_Rampage looks at it, "What's that?"

The man puts his hands on the desk, "It's reviews from your readers, there are 9 of them."

Murloc looks at the paper, "You know, two or three of these don't really... count... right?"

The man laughs, "Don't try to back out now, you dug your own grave."

Murloc shots him a glare, "At least I get reviews, unlike you Mister RuiTheEvilVampire."

The man flinches for a moment before yelling, "I did my best!"

Murloc laughs, "You were shit. You made crappy Adventure time Fanfics, and, you took them down months later. You were ashamed of your own work."

The man flares up, "Fuck you! You needed me to exist in the first place. If it wasn't for my existence, you would never be the writer you are today."

Murloc gives him a blank stare, "You're wrong. I never needed you, the only thing I needed was to replace you. Your stories were boring, bland, and even when you created your 'masterpiece', it was so out of touch, you couldn't even explain it. Hah, I pity you."

The man punched the desk, "You bastard, The United War story was great! You even stole Jason from it!"

Murloc raised a finger, "Wrong, I merely used his name, your Jason is nothing more than a little bitch."

The man smirked, "Then what about Cray? You blatantly stole him from my fanfic. An older brother stronger than everyone else, someone extremely overprotective. You're a thief."

Murloc laughed, "Kiss my ass retard, I only use what's available to me. Maybe I did take him from you, but you should be honored, your character actually means something now."

The man stood up straight, "I created the basis, the idea, you took it for granted, I only wanted to be great... I was young..."

Murloc smiled, "Then you gave up, and grew into me."

The man frowned, "You changed our name, making your own, took down almost everything I wrote... except Life's a Journey... Then ended up becoming successful by writing Pokemon stories..."

Murloc stared at him, "Yes. You're a nobody now. No one remembers you, no one cares about you. Now I exist, me, Murloc_Rampage. Now get out, you're fired."

{Cray's Point of View}

-1 month since the game launched-

I sat next to Rui's hospital bed. The nerve gear is still on his head, blocking vision to his face and hair. I took a day off to visit him, to my surprise, so did my parents. My mother is too busy crying into my father's shoulder over the incident. My father, on the other hand, is frowning angrily at the nerve gear.

He grunted, "I still can't believe a little toy can do this to so many people."

I hung my head, "Yeah..."

My father shook his head, "You should have known this could happen."

I looked at him, "I don't work in that part of the company. I'm only an executive, a low ranking one at that."

My dad sighed, "Can't they just... turn them off?"

I shook my head no, "If it were that easy, then we would have done it day one. If we try, the person will automatically die."

My father shook his head, "There has to be something."

I got up and rubbed the helmet, "There is a way. The players need to beat the game."

My mom stopped crying for a moment to look at me, "It's been a month, and, the news said they haven't cleared the first floor yet. 5000 people are dead Cray!"

I looked at Rui sadly, "I know that mom... who do you think is being blamed right now? I'm attacked everywhere I go... except here..."

My mother sniffled, "I'm just so scared for him. He could end up like this for years, or worse, die. He'll never marry, or have children. Cray... how will our family's bloodline continue if you're infertile?"

I frowned, sitting down, "I... I don't know."

My mother cried into her husband's shoulder, "We're both only children, no relatives except distant cousins, what do we do now?"

I held my head, "I don't know!"

My father hugged my mother, "Let's go home honey. We have work in the morning."

I heard my mother sniffle, "Okay."

They left the room, allowing me to be alone as the heartbeat monitor kept a steady pace. I sat back, sighing in sadness, and stared at the ceiling. The door to Rui's room opened as a women came in.

I looked at her, "Gaia... what are you doing here?"

Gaia is my boss, a 23 year old, Asian woman with long black hair and brown eyes. She's very physically fit, being a black belt in karate, but there was always something off with her. She has A cup breasts but wide, firm hips with slightly tanned skin. She wore a blue tuxedo/skirt with black high heels. Her footsteps rang throughout the room.

She smiled, wearing ruby colored lipstick, "I heard the conversation between you and your parents."

I looked at her, "Yeah, so what?"

She looked at me, smirking a bit, "Well... I know someone who would be happy to marry your cute little brother."

I glared at her, "Is this about us breaking up?"

Gaia snickered, "No. Why would it be?"

I took a deep breathe to calm down, "Gaia, this isn't funny."

Gaia laughed, "I'm not joking."

I watched her rub a hand along Rui's arm before leaning down, "I bet he was really cute. I looked at his school grades, straight A's. He must have been something."

I got up angrily, "Get out!"

Gaia stood up, "Fine, I'll leave."

I watched her walk away before saying, "Never come back in this room."

Gaia shrugged, "Sorry Cray, I'm might end up talking to your parents. I'm sure they'll be happy such a respectable, independent woman would kindly marry their soon to be deceased son."

I clenched my hands into fists, "You better not!"

Gaia laughed, "Or what!? It's their decision, not yours. We'll see what happens in the coming months."

When the door closed shut, I kicked my chair in anger before punching a wall. I already felt guilty about getting my younger brother stuck inside a death game. Now I have to deal with this? God... what next!?

{Rui's Point of View}

-April 17th, 2041-

[Status of the game so far]

Top Player of the Chapter: TheImmortalEevee

Gender: Male

Age: 15 years old

Level: 26

Class: Pokemon Spiritualist

Spirit Pokemon: Eeveelutions

Weapon: N/A

Skills: 5

Guild: The Almighty Eevees

Guild Leader: TheImmortalEevee

Quests Completed: 132

Players Left in the game: 2.57 million

Players that have died: 5,896

Floor Bosses defeated: 0

I woke up in my new room, staring at the ceiling groggily. My hud finally came up, revealing my health/exp bars, name, and level. I'm level 18 now, and it's been a month since the game started. Carly helped me get invited into a large amount of quests. My leveling surprised her, she's only level 14, despite being on all these quests with me. Since I was often the strongest now, I always took point and did everything I could to protect my teammates.

I swung my legs to help sit up along the edge of my bed, "Yaaaawn! Ugh... let's see how the knuckleheads are doing..."

I pulled up my menu, riffling through it to access my friends list. I saw Carly first, she was fine, sleeping since it says inaccessible. I saw that Jay is level 10 now, with Anthony level 9 and Derek level 12. It surprised me a bit to see Derek at that level but I felt relieved. They're progressing nicely, while I'm doing everything I can.

Carly's status changed to active with a message from her popping up, "Yaawn, morning."

I smiled a bit, "It's funny that you always message me in the morning."

Carly yawned again, "Huh? Yeah... so what? It's not like I like you or anything."

I chuckled a bit, "Of course not. You just like having me as a bodyguard."

Carly's voice suddenly changed to excited, "Oh! That reminds me. We have a convoy mission today!"

I was confused, "Convoy?"

From her voice, I could tell she was grinning, "The top players need a large amount of supplies. Two players have agreed to bring them the stuff but need guards. I have Klink and Gary willing to join too."

I was a little surprised, "What's the payout?"

Carly sounded too excited, "5000 gold each!"

I crossed my arms, frowning, "No exp?"

Carly sounded like she was pouting, "Hey, gold is good too. You should know that, considering I bought you a new sword to replace the broken one."

I snickered a bit, "You mean that piece of junk that I threw away once I got a better one."

She gasped, "You threw away my gift!"

I stopped snickering and smiled, "Of course not. I still have it in my inventory, besides, I'd never toss a gift from one of my friends."

Carly stopped talking but I heard a knock on my door. I raised a brow before closing the menu to go open the door. When I did, Carly tackled me to the ground like she normally does nowadays.

"Oopaaaahhhh!" She yelled, giggling like an idiot.

I started the annoying process of pushing her off, "Carly, get off of me!"

Carly grinned, "You say that every day Rui!"

I frowned angrily, "That's because you always tackle me! If the city wasn't a safe zone, that'd hurt like hell!"

Carly pouted, "It's not my fault, my class gives me a lot of strength."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm kind of hungry, let's grab some breakfast before the quest starts."

Carly jumped off me, running around in a circle happily, "Oooppppaaaahhhh! Breakfast! Zoooooommmmm!"

She ran out of my room, pretending to be an airplane as my eye twitch, "...Is she like... 5 or what?" I asked aloud.

The Opah is her way of yelling her excitement, it's pretty cute at times. One of her favorite town dresses, involves her dressing as a Neko. I... I really don't know why but she just does. With a happy chuckle, I got up and left the room to catch up with her.

-Later That Day-

Breakfast went well... considering the countless guys hitting on Carly for dressing as a blue furred Neko. I didn't care what the guys did, Carly was strong enough to toss them 30 meters with one arm. Trust me, no one is going to strong arm this chick. While she fought off her fans, I checked my style skills and saw my one handed sword style reached rank 1 with a couple hours on the bar. I now can block and attack a bit faster with a regeneration of 40 hp/s. With my leveling skill tree, I'm able to regenerate 80 hp/s for my 2570 hp. I wonder if that's enough for the front lines yet...

Carly interrupted my thoughts, "Rui, you ready to go?"

I looked up to see Carly happily twisting the arm of a man behind his back, "Uh, sure, but let your prey go. Don't be a bad kitty." I teased.

She allowed the guy to run off before changing into her combat gear, "I'm never bad, I merely teach these guys to back off."

I laughed, "Yeah, you sure do."

She smiled at me, "Like my new armor?"

I looked to see it was a black leather covering her chest with metal clads to cover her stomach, back and shoulders. A leather strap wrapped at an angle around her waist with a schoolgirl skirt.

"It's cute." I admitted.

Carly grinned happily before jumping, "Opah!"

I smiled at her, "Why do you always yell that when you're happy?"

Carly leaned over, grinning at me, "It's a habit of mine."

I looked at the buildings, "Does it mean anything?"

Carly brought a finger to her lips, before snapping, "Nope!" she giggled.

I rolled my eyes, "You're a screwball."

Carly pouted, "I am not!"

I shook my head, looking up, "Let's just focus on the quest."

Carly quickly agreed, running ahead to make me keep up with her. The meeting point is outside the northern entrance to the city. Gary and Klink weren't very happy but it wasn't because of us. Like many of the other players, they're tired of the game. The food is terrible and money is hard to come by without quests. Right now, no one's cooking level is higher than 3. Not only that, but the best food up for purchase, is of the lowest grade. My cooking level is 0 so... I'd set my room on fire.

Gary looked at me, "Murloc... you're that high already? Why haven't you left to join the top players?"

I looked at Carly as she ran over to Klink in order to greet him, "Well... I have friends that need me around."

Gary snickered, "Carly would be fine without you."

I shook my head, "It's not Carly that I'm worried about. I have three real life friends stuck in the game as well."

Gary crossed his arms, "You're not training with them?"

I looked up at the higher floors, "I don't want them to rely on me to succeed. If they develop on their own, they benefit on a much greater scale."

Gary thought to himself for a moment before nodding, "You're doing what you think is best for them. Then let me ask this, what if you die? How would they feel never knowing how?"

I looked down frowning, "In all honesty... I think it'd motivate them more."

Gary raised a brow, "What do you mean? They wouldn't be your friends if they don't care about you."

I smiled, feeling a breeze wash over me, "No, it's because they care that they'll become better. They'll want to survive in order to remember my sacrifice."

Gary was about to continue but Klink got our attention, "We're leaving now you two. Come on, if you don't want to be left behind."

Gary and I shrugged, quickly following the convoy. The two players carrying the load are both female, level 5, merchant class players. The two of them both have long black hair with one having extremely dark skin, and the other is clearly Asian. The dark skinned girl is about 5 feet tall, about 16 years of age, B cup breasts, wore a brown tunic, heels, and had a bow with arrows on her back. The Asian girl stood at 4 foot 7, about 14 years of age, A cup breasts, and wore a white button up shirt, skirt, black leggings, sandals, and had a dagger on her left hip.

I walked closer to them, "I didn't know this game had a merchant class."

The dark skinned one smiled at me, "It's a special class only available to players with a high bargaining skill. It allows us to gain exp from trades, selling items, and paying other players for their services."

The Asian one smiled at me, "It makes us vulnerable to battle though, that's why we need you four."

I was intrigued, "So you two decided it was best to be merchants to help players instead of fighting."

The dark skinned one nodded, "I was a terrible archer, so I was happy to learn about the merchant class change."

I tilted my head, "How'd you learn to change classes?"

She looked around at the grassy field we were walking through, "I talked to a merchant NPC and he said he could make me a merchant. I needed a Bargaining skill of 25 to allow it, however, you can only change classes once."

The Asian one chimed in, "There are also sub classes!"

I flinched, "Subclasses?"

The Asian nodded, the smile never leaving her lips, "Yep, every class has a few to choose from and all of them can be unlocked. The only problem, no one knows how yet."

I thought to myself, 'Subclasses... I'll need to keep my ears open for more information on that.'

The dark skinned one asked, "What's your name?"

I pointed at my health bar, "Murloc_Rampage." I answered.

She shook her head, "I meant your real name."

I rolled my eyes, smiling, "Of course you did. Just call me Rui."

The dark skinned one said, "My name's Destiny."

The Asian one chimed, "I'm Lei."

I nodded, "Destiny, Lei. I'll be sure to remember your names."

I sent them both friend requests, quickly gaining a response. With them both on my list, I smiled, thinking about how opportunistic I'm being. Merchant friends could prove to be useful in the future. A high bargaining skill allows them to purchase items at a discount. If I'm kind, maybe they'll purchase items for me, saving me a bit of gold.

Carly walked over to me, elbowing my side, "Well, aren't you a player. You're collecting girlfriends like pokemon."

I blushed hard, "We're only friends!"

Carly busted out laughing, "Hahahaha! I was only teasing you!"

Suddenly the convoy stopped as Gary and Klink glared ahead. I looked past them to see one player standing in our way. He stood at 5 foot 9, wearing a black cloak, covering his entire body. His left hand is revealed, holding a black and red scythe, the bottom of its handle stood on the ground with the blade pointing towards the player. A black mask covered his face, shielding it from the light. His name and level are ? with a filled green health bar.

Gary called out to him, "Who are you and what do you want!?"

He tilted his head slightly, walking towards us while twirling the scythe around one finger. He didn't answer Gary's question as he approved us with open hostility.

Carly and I got in front of Gary, "I'll take him on first, we need to see what he's capable of."

The man stopped as the black mask began to crack, forming a strange mouth, "Crescent Moon Strike."

Suddenly the entire world became dark with a large Crescent Moon about us. In a blink, the man swiped his Scythe, cutting Gary's head off first. I felt everything begin to slow down as I realized Gary is about to die. I've never seen a player die and it was so easy for this player.

"Gary!" I yelled.

Before it could hit the ground, the man caught his head by the hair.

"XYZ conversion." The man muttered, invading Gary's head and body with a black aura.

As Gary's body exploded from his heakth hitting zero, a ball of light appeared and began circling the man. The merchant girls looked terrified, but I found myself able to move again. Without hesitation, I ran in and started clashing with his Scythe. I tried hitting him into a combo but missed the jump slash as he jumped around me. I watched his movements, watching as he caught me with the blade of his Scythe. I was helpless as he began to twist his body, picking me up, then slamming me onto the ground with a quick spin. My health dropped to 7% from just that attack. Even though it was fake, I felt my heart stop. As I looked up at him, a pure red crystal appeared over his head with a kill count of 1000 players.

My eyes widened, "You're a murderer!"

He knelt down, "No. I'm a Grim Reaper. I am merely freeing you tormented souls from suffering in this game."

I glared at him, "You're insane."

He started laughing, "Think what you will."

Carly yelled, "Get away from him!"

The man looked at her, "Oh? A girl standing up for a boy, how cute."

Carly flinched, readily holding up her weapon for defense. While Reaper was distracted, I opened my menu to grab a health potion. Reaper looked Carly over, analyzing her.

Reaper sighed, "Looks like you're both clean. You have nothing to worry about. I don't feel like killing good players today."

Carly flinched, "What do you mean?"

Reaper looked at Klink, "I am only interested in Players who have been involved with player killings, both directly and indirectly."

Carly looked confused, "How do you know who's been involved?"

Reaper glanced at her, "I'm a Fear Reaper. My murder detection ability can detect a player who's either tricked a player towards death, or harmed one. Even if a player hides until their orange crystal is gone, I can still see their kill count."

Klink yelled, "Even so, how do you know if it is in self defense or not!?"

Reaper laughed, "It's quite simple. In this game, players who were attacked first have the right to protect themselves without turning orange, even if the enemy dies."

Carly looked at our merchants before looking back at him, "What about the merchants?"

Reaper looked at them, "They're safe. I just need to kill that guy."

I got up, pointing my sword at him, "Please don't."

Reaper looked at me, "You've got some balls to point that sword at me."

I frowned, "Everyone makes mistakes, it's up to us to make amends. I'm sure Klink will never do it again. He's a good person."

Reaper snickered, "You bore me."

With a swing of his Scythe, I was knocked unconscious.

-1 Hour later-

When I woke up, I found myself at 15% health. My head was pounding as I slowly got up and looked around. Everyone was gone... except Carly. I quickly stumbled over to her and found Carly laying on the ground. She stared up at the sky, looking lost and... her legs were gone. Her health bar dropped by 10 every second with it at 3% now.

She looked at me blankly, "Rui..?"

I pulled out a health potion and tried to give it to her but it didn't work. Severed limbs nullify all health potions. The only way to save her, is to get her back to town. I don't have a teleport crystal to do that!

Carly opened up her menu and gave me a trade request, "T... take my teleport crystal."

My eyes widened, "No! You need to get back and heal! I'll be fine! You know that!"

Carly shook her head, "No... it's better this way. I failed them... Klink and the merchants. He killed them because of me. He left me here to die as punishment but spared you. I'm... grateful for that. You know... you were my best friend... right?"

I forced the crystal into her hand, crying, "Carly, for God's sake, just use the damn teleportation crystal."

Carly looked at me, "I have a question, don't worry, it won't hurt but... when I watch you train, I noticed you do it effortlessly. It's as if you do it out of habit. So cold and calculating, you never enjoyed it. So why did you do it?"

I made her grip the crystal, crying into her stomach, "I do it for my friends, to keep you all safe.. Carly, if you die then it'll be for nothing! Please... just use the crystal."

Carly rubbed my head, "You were always my best friend Rui."

I saw her life gauge get closer to 0 and started squeezing her hand, begging her to save herself. She... she didn't. She let herself die and I felt her hand disappear along with her body. All that was left of her, was her loot. I picked it up, staring at the loot in shock before screaming my erratic sobs into the sky. How could she just die?

(Thank you so much guys for the support. I just had to give you guys another chapter as a reward. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as well. Please review, favorite and follow to help support the story.)


	4. Chapter 3

Ch. 3 Floor 2

(I originally didn't want to upload this but I felt bad about Galaxy's latest chapter. To make up for it, I write the fuck out of this chapter. Thank you guys for another 9 reviews, that also made me write this, and, your favorite little demon is in this chapter. ;p I hope you enjoy.)

{Rui's Point of View}

-April 22nd, 2041-

I was running to join in on the boss raid but I arrived too late. One player was left behind and he gave me a bored look.

I panted, "What happened?"

He sighed, "The boss was only level 13. If we knew this sooner, we'd have attacked before we reached level 20."

I groaned, "Finding this place was impossible, everyone searched for a month. What was the boss anyways?"

He laughed, "A Beedrill Hive. It was quite laughable. You should have been there."

Those words echoed in my ears, "You're right... I should have been there..."

-May 3rd, 2041-

[Status of the game so far]

Top Player of the Chapter:MiphaGrace

Gender: Female

Level: 39

Class: Icon Channeler

Weapon: Surveyor Catalyst

Skills: 14

Guild: Lord's Servants

Guild Leader: MiphaGrace

Quests Completed: 219

Players left in the Game: 2.53 million

Players that have died: 43,751

Floor Bosses Defeated: 2

Highest Floor Reached: 3

I woke up in my new inn room on the second floor. With a groan, my body pulled itself into a sitting position along the right edge of the bed. I opened my menu, looking through my friends list but froze. I stared at Carly's name, seeing deceased next to her status. It asked if I wanted to unfriend her but I said no.

After leaving my inn, I looked around at the town. It looked a lot like the towns on the first floor except with more stone blocks present. I looked at my hud, seeing my level at 31 with 9,250 Hp. I wore a black T-Shirt with Leather Elbow Pads, Black Shorts with Leather Kneepads. It gives me a bit more armor than my previous outfit since I was able to upgrade it to +3. My weapon also upgraded as well, it's a level 27, green(Uncommon), weapon with nearly 8 times the DPS of my old weapon. As I shuffled through my inventory, I saw a dagger that used to belong to Carly. I even tagged its name as 'Carly's Dagger' to remember her.

Today wasn't about my stats or equipment though, today, I was looking for information. In the town is an underground bar with special NPC's. They have knowledge on many things within the game. Rumor has it, by giving a rare berry to one of them, they're able to tell you anything you want to know.

I asked myself, "Now, where to go."

As I looked around, Jay approached me, "Rui! There you are!"

I looked at his level, seeing it was 25, "Hi Jay..."

He frowned, "Rui... You've been so distant lately. Did something happen?"

I faked a smile, "No, I'm just a little groggy from waking up."

Jay didn't believe me and placed a hand on my shoulder, "You know, you can tell me anything, right?"

I nodded, still smiling, "I know. I have to go, quests and whatnot. Bye."

I quickly turned to leave, making Jay shake his head, "He's still thinking about it..."

-Several Minutes Later-

I reached the spot where the bar supposedly is. It was a dead end with a brick wall but I knew better. Using my detective skill, I was able to look at it closely until a brick moved. I pressed it, watching at the wall began to open with shifting bricks.

I spoke to myself, "Step one complete, now to see if the Iagruv berry is the requirement."

I started walking down a stone staircase until I reached a wooden door. Without hesitation, I opened the door and walked inside a dimly lit bar. Everyone in the bar shifted their gaze towards me, almost all of them being pokemon. The only other human was an NPC bartender cleaning a cup. One pokemon had a brownish red cloak on, only its green hands were revealed. I walked towards it and sat down at the small round wooden table.

I asked, "Are you Silvia?"

She answered me with a very Feminine voice, "Yes."

I pulled out the item, "I have a question for you."

She giggled, "Of course you do. Many men come here to ask me questions. Sadly, I must go soon."

I perked up, "Go? Where are you going?"

She pulled off her hood, revealing herself to be a Gardevoir, "I'm going back home. Gardevoir only live on the 25th floor."

I asked, "Then how did you get here?"

She giggled, "I'm sorry but I can only answer your question in exchange for an Iagruv Berry."

I frowned, looking at my single Iagruv Berry, "I have one of those berries but I must ask this question. Who is Reaper?"

I handed her the berry, "Reaper... It is a program in the game gone awry. It was originally a peaceful program designed to help players cope. In the end, it was corrupted after the game started."

I was shocked, "You know this is a game?"

She smiled, "I can only answer a question in exchange for a Iagruv Berry."

I face palmed, "Damn it."

She looked down, "Reaper... After the corruption, no one knows what Reaper is. Its birth came from the corrupt program. All I know, is that Reaper has its own free will like me."

I gave her a confused look, "Free will? You have no free will, you're nothing but 1's and 0's. You're even programmed to always say that a Iagruv is required to answer a question."

She laughed, almost like she pitied me, "No. I don't always say that. Most of the time, I'm silent because I don't WANT to speak to them. I have freedom over my choices just like you. Doesn't that make me real?"

I smirked at her, "Sorry, a Iagruv Berry is required to answer a question."

She raised a brow, showing a bit of interest, "Oooh, you're funny."

I shrugged, "I try."

Silvia smiled, getting up, "I must leave and go back to my home on floor 25. Good luck."

As she walked past, I glanced at her level, seeing it at level 73. If I could sweat, I think I'd be drenched. A rapier was strapped to her thigh as well, fueling her argument that she is real. When Silvia was gone, I got up and left the bar in disappointment. I didn't learn anything about Reaper other than his Origin. Even that seemed sketchy, especially since Silvia could be lying this whole time.

Speaking of Silvia, "How does she get to travel between floors? Wait, how the hell does she know she's an NPC?"

-Some Time Later-

I decided to take a break today and ate in a Diner. Nearby, Several players stared at me in envy of my level. When I glanced at them, they started whispering amongst themselves. I opened my menu and started setting everything to private. It wasn't long until a man sat across from me.

He looked about 27 years of age with short blonde hair. He wore a red clad of armor that covered his body. A sword, with a ruby embedded in its handle, is draped across his back. He's at least 6 foot 4 if he was standing.

He didn't beat around the bush, "My name is Zack. I need your help."

I looked aside, uninterested, "Why ask me?"

Zack said, "You're Murloc_Rampage, one of the top 100 players in the game. I need your help, my friends are trapped in a dungeon on the third floor."

I shrugged, "It's not my fault, maybe they shouldn't have gone in that dungeon."

Zack clenched his hands into fists, "I'm begging you. They found a hidden passageway that led into a deeper dungeon. They'll die without your help and it's not their fault."

I looked at him, "I think it is their fault or this is a trap. I'm not stupid, plenty of players have tricked others with sob stories."

He frowned, "I know that..."

I sighed, shaking my head, "Fine. I'll help but if you're lying, I'll cut off your head and crush it with my foot."

I saw him shiver and say, "I understand."

While checking my menu, I get up, "Ready to go?"

He got up as well, nodding, "Yes."

We left the diner together, teleporting to the third floor main town.

[Third Floor-Regrul]

The main city on the third floor is call Regrul. It's a town mostly inhabited by traders, inn keepers, and miners. Most of this floor takes place in mines and mountains. I never trusted underground dungeons, so I typically avoided this floor. On the plus side, almost all of the rarest loot is found in the dungeons on the third floor. Pokemon levels are between level 17 to 25 with Bandits spawning at those levels too. The third floor boss is currently being searched for and will, most likely, be annihilated. The first two floor bosses were less than mediocre. Finding them is the hardest part.

I looked at Zack, "Lead the way."

He nodded towards me, running towards the Southern part of town. The run there was easy, nothing attacked us and that's what bothered me. I could tell it disturbed Zack as well but we pressed forward, reaching the cave.

I inspected the area, "It looks clear."

Zack nodded, "Yeah..."

I looked into the cave, "So this is it huh, you sure they're inside?"

Zack said, "I'm sure, it's the last place they... Look out!"

Zack jumped towards me and pushed me out of the way of some falling rocks. I fell into the cave as the entrance was blocked with only Zack's arm visible. The rest of his body is crushed underneath the rock as the arm flinched and twitched until it stopped moving. Then it shattered, showing that Zack had died from being crushed.

I held my head, remembering Carly's death before whimpering, "No... I... I can't cry now. I need to find his friends. They need my help."

Zack paid the ultimate price, so I need to save them. The cave had torches and glowing green stones to light it. I began my journey deep within, finding myself surrounded by Drilburs. They were extremely hostile, causing me to kill all of them before continuing my journey. I watched my map, creating a panel that showed where I've been just in case I get lost. My one handed sword increased to level 2, further increasing my abilities. The search lasted for hours, and, I started to feel like I was going to be stuck here for forever.

I laid my back against a wall, saying, "Maybe I should message Jay for help."

I opened up my menu and looked at my friends list only to get an error message, "What!? Error... you are underground, communication is impossible. ...Oh that's just great!"

With an angry sigh, I started exploring the mine more. More ground type pokemon appeared, trying to kill me. Then I started seeing things... I don't know if it was some kind of gas or from being trapped here. I saw Carly, she was sitting in a tiny room, blocked off by a cave in. The only reason I saw her, there's a hole amongst the rubble. She smiled and waved at me... as if nothing was wrong. I pulled back in shock, looking in to see nothing but a candle. When I pulled away once more, I heard footsteps with a shadow moving around a corner.

I decided to follow it, feeling a chill, "I'm starting to think something is very wrong with this cave."

I followed the sounds, feeling the air get thicker until I reached a door. When I opened it, I was met with a blinding light.

I shielded my eyes, "Argh!"

A gentle breeze blew as the light dimmed down. Once I could see, all I saw was a grassy meadow with a single tree. Underneath it, was Carly. She happily hummed, as if listening to music. She noticed me, using a hand to beckon me to her. I took a step in, watching at the light instantly turned off. When I stepped back, a low growl erupted from the darkness as a Drilbur attacked me.

I screamed in both fear and shock, falling back. The small creature went for my neck, a critical hit spot, but I stopped it. Angry, I took my sword and stabbed the creature's throat viciously, and without relent. Once I stood up, I noticed a path leading deeper into the cave. Without any other options, I precede down the corridor. Yelling and screaming could be heard up ahead. Knowing that could be them, I ran as fast as I could until I reached a large room. Blue torches lit it and the players I was looking for, are laying on the floor with low HP. An Excadrill stood over one, readying its claws for the kill.

"Hey!" I screamed.

It flinched, turning to me as a screen appeared in front of me, "Warning, Floor 3 Boss ahead, level 30 Excadrill."

I snickered, pulling out my sword, "Level 30? Please, this'll be easy."

The screen started blinking, "Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning!"

I pressed the button, getting a video to appear, it was Carly, "Opah! I'm so glad you became my friend! You saved my life!... or did you? No, you got me killed. It's all your fault Rui. I realized the moment you were knocked out, how useless you were. You couldn't protect me because you only protect yourself. I hope Fear Reaper Kills you! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa!"

The screen disappeared as Excadrill attacked me with a Drill Run. The attack drove me into a wall with the Excadrill still drilling into my stomach. My health bar began to deplete past 50%, causing me to erupt. I threw the Excadrill back, readying my sword but then I saw Silvia walk right by me. I stared at her in shock until she walked right through the Excadrill.

I shook my head, "What's wrong with me?"

"Exca-Drill!" Excadrill ran at me with Metal Claw active.

I reacted in time, using my sword to block and repel his attacks. Each hit took some durability off, a passive ability gained by Metal Claw in substitute of attack damage increase. I activated an attack combo but as I swung my sword, Carly's hand grabbed my wrist.

It stopped me for a second but I pushed through, "She isn't real!" I yelled.

Excadrill took the attacks gracefully, losing only half a bar with 2 and a half left. It glared at me, jumping back as it's claws suddenly sharpened. I took the opportunity to drink a health potion, healing back up to 80% health.

It ran at me, I ran towards it. Without relent, we both attacked each other, boss against player. Monster versus monster. I was not going to die here and I'm not letting the others die.

"Vertex Slash!" I yelled, slicing upward.

A wave of energy hit the Excadrill into a wall, "Exca!"

I ran forward, 'Driven X!' I thought angrily.

In a flurry of crossover slashes, I cut the Excadrill's stomach, inflicting heavy damage until it caught my blade with one hand. I tried to free it but its other hand grabbed my left wrist. Using the razor head, it tried to hit me with headbutts but I dodged them. Using both my feet, I jumped and drop kicked the Excadrill's face. When I hit the floor, I kicked it, backrolling onto my feet, ready to fight.

I saw my sword was close to breaking with both our health in the red, "No more games. This next attack will end one of us!"

I ran towards the Excadrill as it roared, "Excadrill!"

It used Drill Run, spinning with its arms forward, flying at me. I turned away, waiting for the right moment before jumping backward and over it. I spun, my sword extended, and sliced the Excadrill as it flew under me.

I landed on one knee, my blade extended to my right, "It's over."

I swiped my sword and put it away as the Excadrill stood for a moment before screaming in pain. It fell forward, shattering before it even touched the ground. A screen appeared in front of me, saying congratulations. The boss gave me 25,000 exp and 50,000 gold. To make it better, the item drop is an epic rare piece of clothing called Dark's Sweater. I checked it out but decided against putting it on.

I walked over to the players and checked on them. They were alive but unconscious from the Floor Boss. I continued on, reaching an ancient stone door that flashed with blue light marking before opening.

A voice message appeared in my inbox, "Players can now enter floor 4."

I continued on ahead and reached the teleporter. Once the floor boss is beaten, a room with a teleporter opens. It automatically sends players who enter the above floor to a safe zone. A Safe Zone is basically any town a player cannot die in. Before I reached the teleporter, I heard footsteps behind me.

I looked to see Carly smiling, "Don't go Rui. Stay here with me forever and ever."

I started crying, turning towards the teleporter, "Carly is Dead! You're not real."

I took a step towards the teleporter but still looked back anyways. Carly was gone... I walked into the teleporter, my tears still dripping.

-Floor 4-

I appeared in the new town's Central Plaza. It's a large curcular area that acts as the teleportation receiver. I still needed 500,000 exp for my next level up and I needed to repair my sword. So... that's what I did, I repaired my sword and went back to Floor 2 to continue farming.

{Cray's Point of View}

(Real World)

I sat next to my Brother's bed, watching his motionless body as it breathed soundly. My phone suddenly rang, causing me some alarm before answering it.

I said, "Hello?"

It was my executive, "We just got word that a Player defeated the 3rd Floor boss."

I asked, "Who was it?"

My executive seemed excited, "It was your brother, Rui!"

I looked at my brother in shock, 'He's fighting,' I smiled, "That's great news!"

Then my Executive was silent, "He... He got Dark's Sweater..."

I flinched, "Wh...What? I thought we took that out of the game."

My executive swallowed hard, "We did... but it's somehow in the game again. I have a weird question for you."

I was confused but said, "Ask away."

My executive asked, "Why... why can players marry Pokemon?"

I didn't know about this, "They can?"

My executive replied, "Yes, they can and... I feel like I'm crazy for saying this but... it's like they're alive."

I rubbed the back of my head, "They're programs, how can they act alive?"

My executive sighed, "I don't know but they're reacting to everything and one pokemon began traveling. She met Rui today in a secret bar."

I was interested immediately, "What... what kind of pokemon was it?"

My executive was hesitant to answer, "A... A Gardevoir."

I bit my lip, "Is that bad?"

My executive said, "The... The Gardevoir cannot be tamed in this game... Also... They have their Succubus Forms."

I flinched, "S-Succubus Forms?"

My executive whispered, "It was a form long discussed but ultimately rejected for its mature nature. The Succubus form is a Wild exclusive form that turns them Dark/Fairy with an... impulsive nature. If you want the direct approach, they're evil trainer raping monsters. They're supposed to only be on the 25th Floor in a special secluded forest to protect the players. If this Gardevoir, Silvia, left to go to the lower floors, then that proves to be a problem. She never spoke to anyone... except Rui."

I asked, "What do you think this means?"

My executive sighed, "I'm not sure but I do know this. She spoke to him for a reason and enjoyed it."

I swallowed nervously, "Is that... is that bad?"

My executive said, "I don't know..."

(Side note: To all my guest reviewers, I do read you guys and I'm happy when I see you enjoying the chapters. If you want me to remember you guys, try using a name constantly throughout your reviews. I'll probably make a quest list nod on my profile page as thanks. Also, once this story gets 2 more reviews this chapter, the next will be uploaded. I think that's reachable. ;)

(There you guys go. You get a glimpse of Silvia and now know where she'll be in the game. I hope you guys continue to support this. ^_^)


	5. Chapter 4

Ch. 4 Floor 10

(As a side note, I have drawn Silvia's look in this story and will shortly update it to be the cover, and my new profile picture will be a picture of Rui, or myself when I was younger. It's drawn, not a legit picture, Lol.)

{Rui's Point of View}

-June 6th, 2041-

[Status of the Game so far]

Top Player of the Chapter: Vulthurin

Gender: Male

Level 44

Class: Blood Seeker

Weapon: (Rare)Twin Blood Scorn Daggers

Skills: 22

Guild: Giratina's Followers

Guild Leader: Vulthurin

Quests Completed: 410

Players Left in the Game: 2.28 million

Players that have died: 297,152

Floor Bosses Defeated: 9

Highest Floor Reached: 10

I woke up just like any other morning. I'm currently on the 9th floor, living in a decent inn. I'm only level 38, 17,800hp, with 10 million more exp needed to level up. Once the top players reached floor 5, we began to realize the quests were stuck at giving only 25 to 50,000 exp. To make it worse, level nerfing taxes the amount of gold and exp you earn based on level difficulty. Bonus exp is rewarded to low level players, lower exp is rewarded to higher level players. Creeping can give higher amounts of exp and floor boss kills give a tremendous amount.

I spoke to myself, "The game is making it harder to level up... Thankfully the pokemon still haven't gone higher than 37. The ninth floor boss was only level 39. I wonder what floor ten's boss is."

I stretched, trying to crack my bones but the game doesn't work like that. These days... I've been having trouble remembering the real world. My parents... brother... what did they look like? I only have a faint picture. My menu started blinking a bright blue. When I pressed it, a small holographic explosion sounded.

A voice spoke, "Congratulations! Happy Birthday! You're receiving a special item. It will be a weapon your class can use, of your exact level, and, it will be rare or higher. Do you accept?"

A smaller screen popped up under it with a yes or no button. I pressed yes and watched as a line of dots pulsated and moved up and down in a wave. With a ding, the dots spun in a circle and turned into a solid check mark.

The voice spoke, "The item has been sent to your inbox. It's a Super Rare Sword known as the Evangilizer. A sword type weapon with high damage and indestructible durability. The only drawback, you cannot use health potions while it is EQUIPPED. Be careful in its use."

I closed the screen and opened my menu to reach my mail. The sword was in a gift and I quickly put it in my inventory to compare. The weapon did nearly 3 times the damage per slice and was, in fact, indestructible. Right when I was about to close the menu, I got a new message from Jay.

I opened it, "Hey Rui, we're coming to your inn to see you. We're celebrating your birthday with you, like it or not. We're in this together... also... I kind of got banned from our last inn and, we need a place to stay for a couple hours, until the game lets us get new rooms."

I heard a knock on my door, "Oh jeez, I wonder who that could be."

I walked to the door and opened it, "Rui!" Jay yelled.

I smiled, "Is not here. Come back later."

I tried to close the door but he put his foot there, "Come on man, you've been so distant since Carly died."

I flinched, "Yeah... I know..."

I told him about it three weeks ago and... I felt better. The hallucinations are gone, as well as the guilt I felt deep down. With a small happy nod, I opened the door and allowed them in.

I pat Anthony's back, "How's it going?"

Anthony looked down, "I... met someone I like."

I was intrigued, "Oh? Who? Is she a good player?"

Anthony kept his gaze down and looked nervous, "Well... she..."

I felt shock overcome my system, "Oh my god... it's a man!?"

Anthony jumped up screaming, "NO! It's... I... I'm in love with an NPC..."

My only response, "Lol."

Anthony was stunned, "Lol?"

I started laughing out loud, "Yeah! That's a total lol moment. Who is she? A trader, bartender, -"

Anthony cut me off, "She's a pokemon called Braixen. She works as a maid in a diner I like..."

I covered my face laughing, "That's so cute! You were always a furry and she's furry enough for you!"

Anthony blushed hard, "You think it's funny..."

I pat his head, "No, it's cute. I'm very happy for you Anthony. You're my best friend, I just want you to be safe. Wait... can players marry NPC's?"

Jay answered me, "Yeah, they can, why?"

I thought to myself but asked out loud, "Isn't that kind of weird?"

Derek thought to himself, humming, "Hmm, I feel like the jailor has an ulterior motives..."

I told him, "From the beginning, I've always wondered why they were so real, so alive. Do you think he's trying to convince everyone to stay here forever?"

Jay sat on my bed, "It would make sense, considering how awesome the game is..."

I frowned, "This game is anything but awesome, we could die at any time!"

Anthony frowned, "Rui... it's also the only time players can meet and love anyone they want."

I shook my head, "I want to love in the real world, with a real girl. Not some... fucking program. It's fake. None of this is real!"

Derek placed a hand on my shoulder, "Calm down Rui. Everyone is going to be trapped here for a long time. Rushing ahead will only quicken our demise. More than a quarter million people have died because of traps, bosses, or other players going insane."

I looked at him, "What are you trying to say?"

Derek frowned, "Rui, you're one of my best friends, and I see what the game is doing to you. You need to relax, take a break, you're straining your body and mind."

I looked down, "I... I can't do that. I have to work hard and be the best to help get us home."

Jay sighed, "It's been so long since I've thought of home and... I can't help but not miss it."

I looked at Jay in shock, "You don't miss it at all?"

Jay took a deep breath, "I'm not like you Rui. My family isn't the greatest, my school work sucks, and... I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. Being here, spending all my time playing this game with my best friends, I can't help but want... to stay here."

I felt a pang of pity, "Jay... You're only 14, you have plenty of time to grow up."

Jay got up, patting my shoulder with a smile, "Come on, it's your birthday, we should celebrate it with food."

Derek started pushing me towards my door, "Amen to that! I'm hungry enough to eat a Pignite!"

I started to protest but ultimately just went along with my friends to the restaurant of their choosing. Since the restaurant was on the 10th floor, it wasn't complete garbage. The ingredients were a letter above the worst grade, D ranked. We ate and drank to our mixture of delight and dislike.

Derek grimaced after eating a piece of Tepig chop, "Ugh, sometimes I wonder if public school food is better than this."

Jay laughed, "School food? I think bleach tastes better than some of the food in this game! Hahahaha!"

I chewed on a piece of Cheri Berry, "Mm... I love this berry." I muttered.

Anthony looked at me, "Cheri? Ugh, I hate that berry. Pecha is the best."

I scoffed, "Pfft, screw Pecha. It tastes like cough syrup."

Jay gave me a weird look, "Cough syrup? The fuck kind of cough syrup do you drink?"

I laughed, "I don't remember!"

Derek was silent for a moment, "What kinds of cough syrup was there?"

Anthony looked at his food, "I'm not sure. Has it... really been two months since the game started?"

I ate my Cheri berry salad mix, "I think so, I haven't really been keeping track."

Jay said, "That's what we mean by you're working too hard."

I frowned, "You're probably right..."

Anthony sat back, "I wonder how our parents are handling this?"

I shrugged, "Probably crying their eyes out."

Derek laughed, "My dad won't cry, he'll just be asking if he'll have to pay the medical bills."

I rolled my eyes, "Of course your dad would ask that."

Jay took a sip of juice, "My moms are probably laughing their ass off."

I looked at him, "Why say that?"

Jay frowned, "I know they wanted a girl... instead they got me..."

Anthony looked at him, "They're not that mean, they do help you a lot in school and stuff."

Jay grunted, "Yeah but I know they don't like me that much, if not, they're definitely disappointed in me."

I frowned, "Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. Maybe they wanted a girl but that doesn't mean they don't love you. Lesbian or not, your mother gave birth to you. She held you in her arms, they both did. They're probably worried sick about you right now."

Jay looked distant for a moment before smiling, "Yeah... when I get out of this game, I'm going to give them the biggest hug I can muster."

I smiled back, "Good, now where's my cake?"

Anthony laughed, "Well... you see Rui... they only had one kind."

The waitress, a Gothita, placed a Pecha cake in front of me, "Happy Birthday Boy."

I stared at the cake, "..."

Derek started laughing, "He hates it so much! Hahahahahaha!"

I flipped him off, "Fuck you Derek!"

Gothita took a knife and tapped the cake. In a flash, it changed into 16 even exact slices and passed out slices. I stared at mine for a long time but sighed. Taking my fork, I took a piece of the cake and stabbed into it.

I took it to my mouth, 'Here goes nothing.' I grimaced from eating it, 'Ugh... cough syrup.'

Jay laughed, "You know what? This does taste like Cough syrup! Hahahaha!"

Anthony grimaced, "Ditto, I concede."

Derek groaned, "Ugh! This is some grade E shit!"

Gothita smiled, "I'm happy you boys like it."

I raised a brow, "It's okay..."

Gothita shivered for a moment, "I'll get your bill."

Derek frowned, "Now I just feel bad, we insulted their cooking in front of her."

Anthony frowned, "Well, we're paying for it anyways."

Gothita gave us the bill, "Here you go."

Jay took it, "I got this guys, it's only... 300,000 gold for this shit!? What the fuck!?"

Derek placed a hand on his shoulder, "Bro, we're splitting it, 100,000 each isn't so bad."

Anthony frowned, "300,000 is kind of expensive for crappy food but she was a good waitress."

I watched them all open their menus, then I said, "Should you give her a tip?"

Everyone groaned.

-Afterwards-

I bumped fists with my friends, "Thanks guys. I'm going back to my room to relax."

Jay smiled, "Sounds good. We'll be off to refill our wallets. Also... Anthony is going to increase his cooking level."

Anthony shot up, "I can't cook!"

Jay laughed, "Exactly, that's why you need to learn how to. If you do, think of the amazing food we'll get to have!"

Anthony groaned, "Ugh... okay..." then he grinned, "You have to eat what I make though."

Jay grimaced but steeled himself, "You got a deal."

I watched them walk off before heading back to my inn room on the ninth floor. Just as I opened the menu to grab a teleport crystal, a message appeared. It was from my acquaintance that gathers important intel... for a fee.

I opened the message, "Murloc, word has it that the information pokemon popped up on the tenth floor. No idea where it is though, if you got that berry, might want to ask it questions."

I sent him a message back, "Thanks Havoc."

I checked my inventory and say that I had two of the berries she wanted last time. The question is, where is she? Since I'm in the safe zone, she can't kill me, despite being heavily leveled.

I began my search in the local bars before realizing there's probably a hidden one somewhere. I began checking the alleyways until I spotted an NPC walking alone. He walked into a dead end, so I followed him. He began looking around for something before punching a wall. Similar to the other bar, the bricks moved themselves to create an entrance. I walked towards it, watching silently as the NPC entered the secret passageway.

I said to myself, "I hope this is the right one."

I punched the bricks until I got the right one, and walked down a flight of stairs. I reached the door to the bar and walked inside to see it was exactly the same.

I wondered, 'What kind of bar is this?'

I scanned it, looking for that familiar cloak. I found it, she was sitting alone at the far end of the bar. I walked over to her, taking a seat across from her.

"Hi." I greeted.

She had a cup of beer and drank it, "Hi."

I sat there, wondering what to ask as she gingerly raised her cup. The bar tender came over and filled it up with more beer.

She took a sip of it, "I'm not in the mood for questions. I'm trying to relax."

I noticed her hands are a darker shade of green, "Okay... Well... can I ask what they serve here or do I need to give him a berry?"

Silvia started giggling, "You're never going to let that go, will you?"

I smiled at her, "Please insert one berry to continue."

She drank all her beer, keeping her face hidden, "You're so cute."

She tossed the cup at me, making it hit my forehead, "Ouch, thank you for your time... please... come again."

Silvia giggled, "I'll warn you since I like you. Don't get involved with me, you won't like what you find."

I raised a brow, "Why not?"

Silvia smiled, running a finger along her cup before raising it for a refill, "Players don't understand how close they are to meeting adult wild pokemon."

I thought about it before frowning, "Why is that bad?"

Silvia pulled off her hood, revealing a form I've never seen before, "Not all of us are sane." she giggled.

She looked a lot more demonic than what I've seen of a Gardevoir. Her smirk revealed a sharp fang with what looked like an F under her eyes. Under her left eye, the F is normal but under the right eye, it's flipped to face the opposite direction. As I looked at it more, it almost looked like demon wings. Around her neck is a tattoo of a string with a cross right above her cleavage. Her green dress is a darker shade, tank top instead, with a deep low cut to expose her breasts a bit. The skin between her short sleeve and elbow is pure white on both arms with a black tattoo resembling rose thorn vines. She has C cup breasts and they looked perfectly curved. Around her neck is a black leather spiked collar.

Silvia giggled, "I'm not normal."

I flinched, noticing her eyes are a darker scarlet red, "Wow..."

Silvia smiled, "You like this look?"

I blushed, "It's okay... why the breasts?"

Silvia giggled, "Gardevoir are human like, the only reason we never had them before is to keep the game for kids."

I looked around, "That makes sense."

Silvia drank her beer, "You want a drink?"

I frowned, "I can't drink alcohol."

Silvia smiled, "They have Cheri berry juice."

I smiled at that, "Then I'll have that."

Silvia ordered it for me, "So, did anything interesting today?"

I nodded, "Today is my birthday. I turn 14 and celebrated it with my friends."

She smiled a bit, "Oooh, birthday boy."

I blushed, "Don't say it like that, it's embarrassing."

Silvia grinned, "You're a pretty shy guy."

I giggled, "I'm pretty sure this isn't a Mario game."

Silvia looked confused, "What's Mario?"

I blushed, "Sorry, it's a character from another game."

Silvia got up and took a seat right next to me, "Tell me about it."

I thought about it before saying, "It's a game about a guy who can jump high and eat power ups. He goes on adventures to save a princess from a monster."

Silvia tilted her head, staring at my eyes, "That sounds boring, spending time with me would be a lot more fun." Silvia winked at me.

A small screen popped up, "Warning, attract has been attempt by enemy pokemon NPC."

The second my eyes shifted back to Silvia, she had a firm grip on my wrist, "Let go!"

Silvia did, laughing, "That was priceless!"

I panted, calming down as a red crystal appeared over her but it shifted to green immediately, "W-what?"

I could see her level, it was 79, "Since I like you, I'll give you a little advice, be weary of attract, it can make you go crazy." she winked.

I blushed a bit, "Okay."

She gently rubbed my arm for a moment, "Do you like it here?"

I shook my head no, "I miss my parents and brother..."

Silvia held my hand and smiled, "You'll see them again."

I decided to change subjects, "So, how do you travel between levels?"

Silvia giggled, "I'll tell you since you're really cute~ I can teleport to floors 1-25."

I tilted my head, "You can?"

She nodded, "Yeah. Other Gardevoirs can but most can't since they're typical wild pokemon."

I finally noticed her holding my hand and pulled it back, "Where do you live?"

Silvia bit her lip, "Hmmmmm... I really shouldn't tell you... but... hm... Okay. We live in a special forest. That should be vague enough."

I was intrigued, "A special forest?"

Silvia placed a hand on my shoulder, "Don't go there. Just trust me, nothing will end well if you do. We don't treat trespassers well and I won't be merciful either."

I frowned, "Is it because you have to?"

Silvia winked, "No, it's because I'll want to."

I raised a brow, "I'm afraid I don't understand."

Silvia pet my head roughly, "You're a little Ralts."

I blushed hard, smacking her hand away, "I am not!"

Silvia giggled, "You're a Kirlia then."

I pouted, "Whatever."

Silvia poked my cheek, "You are such a cutey." she pinched my cheek.

I blushed a bright red, "Ow! Stop it!"

Silvia was enjoying herself too much, "Aw, you're so flustered."

I blushed more, "You're embarrassing me!"

Silvia grinned, "Sorry kid."

I pouted, "My name is Rui..."

Silvia chuckled, "Okay, Rui."

I looked away, "Don't you need to leave now or something?"

Silvia smiled, "Not while I'm interested in something."

I asked, "What are you interested in?"

Silvia pulled up a menu much to my surprise, "I'm doing a special favor."

I looked at her menu, "NPC's have menus?"

Silvia glanced at me, "Only the special ones."

I asked her, "What's the favor?"

Silvia frowned, "I can't tell you that, sorry."

I smiled, "It's okay. Why answer all these questions?"

Silvia smirked, "Why else? I like you, you're not like the other players. You feel... right. I can't really explain it but I can trust you."

I smiled at her, "Thank you. For an NPC you're pretty cool."

Silvia smiled back, "Just because I am doesn't mean I'm not real. Our conversation was anything but programmed."

I shrugged, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Silvia held my hand again, "Plus, I can sense your loneliness."

I looked away, "I'm not that lonely."

Silvia caressed my cheek, "It's okay to be lonely." she smiled, "We all get lonely."

I blushed, nodding, "Okay."

Silvia smiled kindly, patting my cheek a bit before getting up, "I must go. I hope to see you again cutey."

With a wink, she got up and left the bar. I watched her leave, wondering if she really is an NPC or not...

I held my head, "I need a drink."

The bartender gave me more Cheri berry. I looked at it, smiling before gulping it down. Silvia's pretty cool.

( Also, we need 4 more individual reviews guys and I'll upload the next chapter. Side note, I made a tumblr account and have posted up my drawing of Silvia, Rui, Jason and Dark on it. It might be cool to see.)

(I write this ahead of time just in case you guys did 9 reviews on the newest chapter. If you see this... SHIT. I'm eating my own words. Thanks. )


	6. Chapter 5

Ch. 5 Floor 14

{Rui's Point of View}

-June 10th, 2041-

[Floor 10 - Raguil]

I was meeting the other top players since we were about to raid the boss room. Vulthurin crouched in a dark corner, watching us through a Giratina mask he created for his Guild. EeveeTheImmortal had his arms crossed, staring at a holomap on top of the table we all surrounded. JustinThePokemonMaster stared at the screen for a long while before snapping his fingers.

He slammed a hand down, "That's it! We'll lure him into the town! Once here, he'll be too busy killing NPC's to notice us."

EeveeTheImmortal agreed, "I think that's a great idea!"

I flinched, "We can't do that!"

Justin looked at me, "Why not?"

I sighed, "That town may not be a safe zone but it has the best shops and quests on this floor."

Justin shrugged, "Oh well, floor 11 will have better stuff."

I shook my head, "That's not the point! What about the other players?"

Vulthurin grunted, "Who cares about those noobs or the fuckin' NPC's? I say we get this over with, my daggers are ready and I'm itching to purify the land with sacred blood."

EeveeTheImmortal didn't look convinced so I asked him, "What do you really think Scott?"

Scott bit his lip, sighing before turning his head, "I truly think it's a great plan, despite the casualties."

I looked down, shaking my head no, "I'm sorry. I can't go through with this plan."

I started making my way out of the group as a player began yelling at me, "So you're going to just leave!? Boy, what the hell is wrong with you!? It's either a fake person's life or a real one's! Which is more important!?"

I never answered that, I just left the room in silence.

-July 3rd, 2041-

[Status of the Game so far]

Top Player of the Chapter:Vixal

Gender: Male

Level: 50

Class: Brawler

Weapon: (Uncommon)Twin Iron Gautlets

Skills: 19

Guild: The Iron Fists

Guild Leader: ExcaFist(Level: 42)

Quests Completed: 387

Players Left in the Game: 2.12 million

Players that have died: 461,249

Floor Bosses Defeated: 15

Highest Floor Reached: 16

I sat at a desk in my inn room on floor 14, wondering what I should do next. After floor 10, the other top players have completely ignored me. The destruction they left on that floor still affects it. The boss wasn't easy, in fact, it took several days to beat it. It was a Giant Muk, a Muk created by thousands of Muks coming together. It's smell and toxic body poisoned the land so badly, the floor is literally abandoned. Nothing can live there now and it's all their fault.

I groaned to myself, "What will we do now? That floor had the only berry farm available. There has to be a way to fix it..."

A knock on my door interrupted me, "Hey, I need your help!" A voice yelled.

I responded, "I'm busy moping, can you come back never?"

The voice yelled, "It's urgent man. There's a murder guild on the lower floors."

I groaned, leaning back, "That sounds like it's not my problem."

The guy hit my door, "Please man! They're kidnapping female players!"

I started whistling, "I can't hear you!"

The guy groaned, "I'll pay you!"

I shrugged, "Not interested."

He punched the door, "You selfish bastard! What if they try to kill your friends like they did mine!?"

"..." I got up and opened the door, "What the hell is going on?"

[Floor 5 - Main Town of Kabba]

I appeared in the town square after using a teleport crystal. The town seemed a bit deserted except graffiti of skulls littered the area. I looked around, trying to find someone to talk to but only saw a group of players approaching me. They wore all black, trying to look and act like Gangsters. They wore a bandana, hoodie, and silver necklace of a skull.

One of the grunts said to me, "Yo, yo, yo! You gotta pay team skull 50k if you wanna roam free or else we'll kick your ass."

I snickered a bit, "Some lowly grunt is trying to make me pay? You must be an idiot."

The grunt jumped back, "Yo, you best cool it brah, because our boss man is in tight with Reaper. He may tell our boss what to do, but he looks out for us little guys too."

I glared at him, 'So that bastard is here... what to do..?' I sighed, "Care to take this outside the city? I'd be happy to rearrange those polygons you call a face."

The grunt got mad, "You stinkin' kid! I'mma whoop yo ass like ya mother should have!"

I chuckled, "I'm going to give you a dictionary like YOUR mother should've."

One of the punk girls stomped her left foot, "You are, like, so rude! We'll all stomp you to the floor."

I shook my head, "Trust me, if we fight, you're all dead. Second, we're in a safe zone, you can't touch me."

The grunt snickered, "Heh heh, that's what you think. Doom card, activate!"

I flinched, "Doom card?"

A thin black card appeared between his middle and index finger, "Set!"

He tossed it to the floor, piercing it before it submerged. I noticed a shift in the air as my health bar had a skull indicator.

A female voice spoke, "Warning, doom card has been activated. The town's safe zone properties has been neutralized for the next 8 hours."

I glanced at them, taking out my sword, "So this is how you murdered everyone."

One of the skull grunts scoffed, "Murdered? Bro there ain't no effin' proof dying in this game will kill us in real life."

I smirked, "Oh?" In a blink, I was behind him, my sword at his throat, "Then let's find out."

I kicked his back, forcing my blade to cut his head off. The scrub was only level 12, how dare he act tough in a group.

I turned my attention to the others, "Does anyone else want to die?"

A grunt charged at me, "You bastard!"

He tried to swipe downward but I pushed it aside with my left hand, "You call that an attack?" I got in his face, grabbing his neck, "Where's the power?"

A girl behind me, stabbed my back repeatedly, "I got you."

My heaoth bar kept regenerating, so I laughed, "While you're back there, give me a massage, that'll do more damage."

She jumped back, "What... what are you!?"

I tossed the dumbass weak grunt onto his back, "My name is Murloc_Rampage, the solo swordsman."

The girl flinched, "I've heard of you... you're one of the top players!"

I bowed mockingly, "A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

The grunt I choked got up, "There's no way he's a top player! A top player would never come here ya fool!"

He ran at me, swinging his sword as I sighed, "Idiot."

I made our sword clash, shattering his, "H-how?" he stammered in shock.

I raised a brow, punching him in the gut, "How? It's quite simple. I'm level 47." Everyone gasped, "I have 33,700 hp, with 850 hp regen every ten seconds. I could stand here all day and you'd still be unable to beat me."

They all looked at each other for a moment before running away, "We have to tell the boss!"

I watched them run like cowards until I heard something behind me. When I turned, a Scythe almost hit me but I blocked it. Reaper sneered in my face, trying to overpower me, but I overpowered him instead.

I kicked him in the stomach before committing a spinslash. He jumped back, holding his Scythe outwards before standing straight.

He seemed to snicker, "So it is you... the one Silvia likes."

I flinched, "What do you know of her?"

He chuckled darkly, "What don't I know about her is a better question. That Succubus has been stealing my fun for months."

I glared at him, exerting my pressure, "Don't call her a Succubus!"

He tilted his head, "Ooh, do you like her?"

I blushed hard, "What!? Eeeew! No!"

Reaper ran a finger along his Scythe, "Silvia is a very special pokemon, her AI is quite... flexible. She travels between floors to fulfill revenge requests."

I raised a brow, "What are those?"

Reaper smirked, "They're mission for NPC's to kill players."

I went my eyes widen, "Why!?"

Reaper chuckled darkly, "Why else? To get revenge when that player wronged an NPC."

I remembered Silvia's words, 'Don't get involved with me, you won't like what you find.'

Reaper continued, "Players need to be punished for their actions. In this world, two wrongs make a right."

I half frowned, "I guess murdering my friend counts as a right to you."

Reaper shook his head, "Rui... Rui... Rui... can I call you Rui?"

I answered, "No."

Reaper snickered, "For you see Rui, I am designed to be a monster, and there are many reasons I can fit in a crowd. After all," He took off his mask, revealing Carly's face, "I steal the souls of those I kill."

I stared at Carly's face in shock, "You..."

It laughed in Carly's voice, "I can see all her memories and boy did she like you."

I felt a pang in my heart, "What?"

Reaper laughed into his hand, "The day before she died, she used literally every piece of gold to buy an item for you. She believed in you, but you failed her."

I got angry, "Shut up!"

Reaper wouldn't stop, "As she fought me, she was convinced you'd rescue her. Of course, you never did so she gave up on you. That's why she wanted to die, you failed to give her the feeling of safety."

I closed my eyes, a tear escaping from my left eye, "I'm going to kill you."

Reaper laughed, putting his mask on, "You're too weak to kill me."

I shook my head, "My detection skill can see you now, you're level 47."

Reaper grinned, "That has to be higher."

I shook my head again, "I'm level 47 as well. Killing players gives you no exp, making you weaker."

Reaper clenched his scythe, "So... you know about that."

I readied my sword, "It's the reason you avoided the top players since floor 5."

Reaper opened a menu, "I think we'll have to save our fight for another time."

I yelled, "Embargo!"

Reaper flinched, "What!?"

His menu closed, making me smirk, "Yeah, it's just you and me Reaper. No health potions. No steroids. No teleportation crystals. One of us is dying today."

Reaper breathed heavily, "You insignificant worm... I should have killed you that day."

I smiled, tilting my head, "Well, it sucks to be you."

Reaper reeled his scythe before swiping the air, "Cleave!"

I swiped my sword, cutting the attack apart as he rushed me. He jumped over me, trying to re-use that spin move he did on me. As he spun, I caught the staff of his Scythe and grabbed his cloak. With an aggressive tug, I threw him down to the ground. His scythe disappeared, reappearing in his hand.

I raised a brow, looking at my sword, 'That'd be very interesting to use...'

Reaper looked at me, angrily getting up, "What are you thinking about?" he demanded.

I stayed silent, twirling my sword for a bit before resting it on my shoulder. The blade began to glow green as I leaned forward.

Reaper's Scythe began to glow red with a black haze, "Dark Void Slash!"

I grinned, "That won't work."

I cut the attack in half, destroying the dark void effect. Reaper attacked me in a bitter battle, my weapon clashed his, outclassing it with speed, however, he has reach. On some attacks I almost overextend and leave myself open for assault. He took the opportunity, hitting my arm with the blade of his scythe, and causing me to hit the ground. I rolled to my hands and knees, getting up. Reaper raised his Scythe, trying to impale me with it but I ran forward. As I passed by him, I cut into his right side with my sword. He turned to me, our health both at about 70%. Reaper looked up as it began to rain and sighed. His scythe began to shift, transforming into a black and red bladed sword, mirroring the design of mine.

Reaper took the mask off again and tossed it aside, "When I kill you, I'm going to enjoy parading around the floors as you."

He had Carly's face again but I didn't care, "Only if you win."

We ran at each other full sprint, sword clashing, feet kicking, combos flowing. His class did everything it could to match mine and did.

We crossed our swords, pushing against each other but I started pushing him back, "You're... strong."

I shrugged, "Of course I am, I train every day to increase my swordsmanship."

I pushed up, knocking his sword back and kicked him in the stomach. He back rolled, dodging a jumping slash as I continued my assault. Reaper jumped to his feet, clashing his sword against mine until I swept his feet. On his back, I tried to impale him but he pushed my sword to the sword. I jumped back to avoid a counter and watched him get up.

I focused my energy, "X-Scissor!"

I ran forward, my blade glowing green as I watched his motions slow down. I jump up, slashing upwards then spun, turned, and jumped again to slash a complete X. I swiped my sword as the move ended and a white X slashed him.

"Aargh!" He yelled, going down to 35% as I was at 65%.

"Shadow Sneak!" He yelled.

I turned to look at him, "Hm?"

I only felt a slash on my back as I fell to one knee, my health dropping to 40%. I felt stunned for a moment, clenching my sword's handle. Reaper kicked my hand, knocking my sword away.

He raised his sword, "It's over!"

I quickly turned my body, grabbing the blade to push it aside. It cut my thumb and finger off, but I didn't care.

I yelled, "This is for Carly!" I had a dagger materialize and stabbed him in the throat.

Reaper stared at me in shock, "This dagger..?"

I glared at him, "Yes... this is Carly's dagger. With my level and skill, it's as deadly as any other dagger."

I gripped his right wrist to keep his sword at bay as I ripped out the dagger and tried to stab him. His health is at 8% as his left wrist desperately tried to stop me. With my strength, I forced him onto his back and pushed down.

He imitated Carly's voice, "Please don't kill me Rui!"

I screamed, "Fuck you! Carly is dead!"

I stabbed the mother fucker right through his eye, "You... won..."

I watched his health bar drop to zero and his entire body shattered. I was in shock... I finally did it! I killed Reaper! Yet... why do I feel so empty?

"Thank you." I heard Carly whisper.

I turned to see her ghost smiling at me, "C-Carly? Is that really you?"

She smiled at me, crying, "Opah!"

I stared at her, suddenly bursting into tears, "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you!"

Carly smiled at me, waving, "Thank you Rui... you freed me."

I smiled, still crying as she finally disappeared. A black item appeared where Reaper died and forced itself into my inventory.

A screen popped up, "Dark's Bandana has been obtained and merged with Dark's Sweater... Warning. Quarantine is recommended for these items. Would you like to quarantine them now?"

A yes or no screen appeared, "Quarantine? Okay, can't I just sell or drop these items?"

A large exclamation point appeared, "Warning, unique items cannot be sold, dropped, or traded. Would you like to Quarantine?"

I hit the yes, looking around, "Well... that's settled. The Skull deadbeats are going to be in hiding now..."

I received a message from a player called MangledReef, "Rui, I need your help. You owe me one from floor 7 and I desperately need a favor! Please come to floor 14!"

I placed my hands in my pockets, groaning, "What am I? Everyone's errand boy?"

[Floor 14 - Outskirts]

I appeared in a tiny village on Floor 14, with the floors slowly getting bigger, more teleportation zones are being placed. I opened my map, drinking a health potion as I scanned the floor.

I noted his location quickly, "He's near that Sacred Forest. There's no enemy pokemon there... except..."

I noticed a red dot appear near him and it chased his green dot. Without a second to lose, I began heading towards that location, using my Speed Boost Ability. It only took me an hour to reach him but I was surprised to find him hunted by an NPC. In the pit of my stomach, I knew exactly who it was going to be. Only She would would hunt down these high leveled players. I stayed back, eyeing the area for any sign of her but Mangle came into view first. He laid his back against a tree, panting hard as he tried to hide. I hid as well, crouching down to let the bushes hide me. Silvia's dot suddenly disappeared, causing me some alarm. Mangle looked around, taking out his sledgehammer.

He spun in circles, trying to spot her, his health at 40%, "Where are you!?" he called out in frustration.

I didn't even get to blink as Silvia fell from above, her Rapier in hand, "Hiya!"

He never say it coming as she stabbed into the back of his left shoulder. The force dropped him to the ground, her rapier nailing him to the ground. I stood up, wondering if it was over, instead, I saw him look at her face in terror.

"N-no!" he cried.

I heard a loud bone chilling chomp, followed by the ear shattering screeches. When they died down, I heard loud sickening slurps as if she was drinking something. I peeked, trying to see, only to get a glimpse of her sucking blood from the back of his neck. I shivered, realizing his health was at 0% but he didn't shatter. Feeble grunts escaped his lips, a hand shaking before slumping. Silvia pulled back, black demonic wings stetching out from her back as she let out a blood curling shriek. His body finally shattered only after she finished feasting.

I stumbled back in fear, watching her wipe her bloody lips, 'She's... she's a monster! I've got to get out of here!'

I turned to start running, only to get her attention, "Don't you dare run!" Silvia yelled.

I suddenly froze, unable to move my body, 'M...m-move! Legs... move!'

I heard Silvia approach me from behind, promptly getting in front of me before snapping her fingers. I suddenly fell forward as control over my body returned. I quickly get up, backing away from her. Her evil Dark Crimson eyes pierced me as her wings folded to lay flat down her back.

Silvia placed a hand on her hip, smirking, "What are you doing here?"

I looked away, "My friend called me for help..."

Silvia looked past me for a moment before crossing her arms under her chest, "Sorry about that, but he's dead."

I swallowed hard, "I-I saw."

Silvia looked aside sadly, "Quite... terrifying... right?"

I nodded quickly, "Y-yeah."

I noticed she was level 97 now, "He murdered an entire village of NPC's on the 6th floor. I've been hunting him for a few weeks."

I scratched the back of my head nervously, "I didn't know that."

Silvia eyed me, smiling, "We just seem to keep meeting up. I can't believe someone killed Reaper."

I flinched, "You know he's dead?"

Silvia smirked, "Of course I know, he was on my friends list."

I stared at her in shock, 'They have friends lists?' I shook my head, "I'm... sorry."

Silvia pressed a finger to her lip, giggling, "So it was you who killed him."

I flinched, "Oh shit..."

Silvia grinned, a sharp tooth showing, "Embargo."

A menu appeared, "Items have been disabled."

I looked at Silvia as she began to approach me, "You're not teleporting away. I warned you to stay away from me."

I pulled my sword out, "Stay back!"

Silvia grinned, "No."

I attacked her, slashing her mercilessly but I didn't do any damage. She easily smacked my armed hand, forcing my sword into a nearby tree. I looked at it until she grabbed my shirt and picked me up.

I thought back to those grunts, how I felt so superior to them and now... I'm quaking in my boots, "L-Let me go."

Silvia grinned, pushing me back into a tree, "Let you go?" I nodded, "I can do that, but you need to _submit_ to me first."

I shivered, "Submit? As in... servitude?"

Silvia stood over me, easily being 5 foot 6 compared to my 4 foot 10, "Mmmmm, yeah."

She pressed her breasts and shard against my neck, "Uh... why not just let me go?"

Silvia leaned her head down to press her forehead against mine, "How could I simply let you go after killing my friend?"

I felt her lick my neck, it felt tingly and slimy, causing a nervous blush, "He... he murdered my friend."

Silvia grinned, giving me a harsh lesson, "Revenge is an endless hateful cycle Rui. You can't expect everyone to just forgive and forget." She licked up my cheek to my ear and whispered, "Unequip your armor."

I quivered a bit, "W-Why?"

She had the tip of her Rapier poking my chin, making me look up, "You don't want to die right?"

I noticed my health dropped to 40% instantly just from a poke, I sniffled my response, "No..."

My eyes went wide when she connected our lips so aggressively, then pulled back, "Do what I say and you'll get to go home. Now... open your menu."

I shivered, but refused, "No."

Silvia smiled at that, "Yeah... you're going to be a fighter. My favorite~"

Using thunderwave, Silvia completely paralyzed me, "Ouch."

Silvia grinned, letting my body slump to a sitting position, "Now that you can't move, I can easily make you bring up your menu."

She sat cross-legged, making me sit on her lap. Her breasts and shard rubbed my back as she grabbed my other hand; she turned my head to force us in a kiss. She raised my index finger to activate the menu and scrolled to equipment.

Silvia bit my shoulder, getting my health to 5%, "There, now you can't fight even if you want to after the paralysis is gone."

My armor disappeared, leaving me in just a T-shirt and shorts, "S-stop." I whimpered.

Silvia chuckled darkly in my ear, "I warned you about me and adult pokemon. Don't worry... I'm teaching you a very important lesson."

She made me turn my clothes off as well, leaving me in just boxers as she began rubbing my stomach, "Don't touch me there..." I whispered.

She kissed my head, "I have you at my mercy, stay silent, it'll be over soon~"

(I decided to be nice and give you all this gift. Thanks for reading guys, please review, favorite and follow.)


	7. Chapter 6

Ch. 6 Amnesia

{Third Person Point of View}

[Real World-Rui's Hospital Room]

-July 4th, 2041-

Rui is laying on his bed, unmoving but his heartbeat monitor beeped for a mere second. Light from the outside world shone on Rui's Nerve Gear and the right half of his body. A shadow began to loom over him as the impossible crawled onto him like a predator. Her black wings extending out as she grinned to herself. Silvia was in the real world as well as the game. She loomed over him, her hands gently pressing down on his shoulders. He looked so innocent in his sleep but absolutely helpless as she ran her tongue on his bare arm.

Silvia whispered, "It won't be much longer now Rui."

The shift in the air made her sit up quickly, changing back into her illusion as Gaia. No one can know about her being a Succubus Gardevoir yet. Cray opened the door, barging into the room.

Cray pointed at her, "You! What did I tell you about coming here!?"

Silvia, now as Gaia, crossed her arms, "I can visit as much as I want, after all, he is my husband now."

Cray flared up, "That's not official yet! You still need my signature before it goes through since I'm a legal guardian!"

Gaia laughed, "You're going to sign it eventually."

Cray did a double take, "(Scoffs) What!? I will never sign my brother's freedom to you! I saw what you were doing to him last month you rapist!"

Gaia shrugged, glancing at Rui with a grin, "I was merely getting a taste."

Cray yelled, "That's disgusting! He's only 14!"

Gaia giggled, "In Japan that just might be old enough for a man's consent."

Cray clenched a fist, approaching her, "He, was, unconscious! There was no consent!"

Gaia grinned, patting her cheek, "Go on, punch me. You get arrested and I'll be riding your unconscious brother all night. Do you really want that!?"

Cray pulled back his fist, ready to knock this bitch out, but ultimately just sighed, "You're nothing but an evil, manipulative, pedophile!"

Gaia scoffed, "Whatever. At least I can spend more time with your brother than you."

Cray flinched, "The fuck does that mean!? I'm here every day!"

Gaia pets Cray head just to piss him off, "You wouldn't understand."

Gaia left the room, leaving an enraged Cray, "Oh no you don't!"

Cray ran to the door, thrusting it open and looking both ways down the halls. Gaia was gone, as if she was never really there. A nurse walk by with a clipboard and noticed Cray's expression.

She asked, "What is the matter sir?"

Cray sighed, calming down, "Can I ask why Gaia was allowed in the room despite being banned from it?"

The nurse looked confused, "No visitor named Gaia has visited for the past 2 months."

Cray flinched, "That's impossible, she was just in this room!"

The nurse crossed her arms, "If that were true, she would have passed me to use the stairs or elevator in order to leave. Neither happened since she hasn't been here. They say mental trauma can cause some interesting side effects."

Cray shook his head, "I wasn't hallucinating."

The nurse didn't look convinced, "Cray, you've been here every day since the incident. You need some time to relax, calm down, you know?"

Cray knew she was right but had Gaia on his mind, "I'm just scared my little brother is being taken advantage of. He was always reliant on me or his friends for protection."

The nurse placed a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, "Go home, get some rest, we'll call you if anything happens."

Cray nodded, "Yeah... I have needed rest as of late... I shall go, thank you."

The nurse watched him leave, grinning to herself as Cray stepped in the elevator to leave. Once the doors were closed, she went into Rui's room and turned back into her real form. Silvia walked to Rui's bed, tracing a finger along it. Not letting anyone else get a chance to interfere, she shoved her hands into his patient gown. No stopped her from molesting the poor boy.

{Rui's Point of View}

[Floor 17-Unknown Dungeon]

-July 25th, 2041-

[Status of the game so far]

Top Player of the Current Chapter: MadAssDragon

Gender: Male

Age: 17 years old

level: 54

Class: Dragon Knight

Weapon: (Super Rare)Dragon Skinned Shield and Sword

Skills: 33

Guild: The #Jay'sChildTastesLikeAss

Guild Leader: Jay's_Failure_Child(Level 17)

Quests completed: 582

Players left in the game: 2.09 million

Players That Have Died: 497, 535

Floor Bosses defeat: 18

Highest Floor Reached: 19

I woke up with a jolt, looking around at the unfamiliar surroundings. I was in a cage with none of my armor on and my weapons gone. My mind is foggy and I couldn't remember what happened to me. Last I remember... it was late June and I was going to solo floor 12's boss. After that, it's all blank. Did I lose? Am I dead?

My head hurt so much, "Ack... What's with this headache?"

I tried opening my menu but it was locked for some reason. My hp was at 1% with my regeneration completely negated. I knew I was still in the game and had to force myself to stand.

Suddenly, my right arm began to burn painfully, causing me to fall to my knees, "Agh! It hurts!"

I looked at my arm to see a black marking seared into my skin. It looked like some kind of lettering or symbols but I couldn't understand it. I got to my feet, looking around at my surroundings. Then I heard footsteps as a Garchomp stomped by with its level at 67.

I thought to myself, 'That's extremely high... what floor am I on?'

I got up, walking towards the gate as the burning in my arm subsided. I did my best to look around only to see nothing but a metal door big enough for a Garchomp and stone bricks. I went back to my starting position and sat there looking at my arm. My head began to pound as I desperately tried to remember how I got here. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember anything at all. With my menu locked, I have no way in knowing where I am. How do I get out of here?

I looked at the gate, "Any chance they left the gate unlocked?" I asked myself.

I got up and checked, only to find it locked. I started feeling around the room for a hidden passage or something. I didn't find anything at all, so instead I started stepping on every stone brick. When that didn't work, I started wondering if I should try yelling.

*kling klang klang*

I looked to see a key bouncing towards me until it slid to a stop. I couldn't put it in my inventory, but the game allowed me to physically pick it up. I walked over to the gate and tried to use it on the lock. Since the lock was on the other side, it was a bit difficult to fit in the key. My thin arms made it easy to fit between the bars though. Once the door was unlocked, I hesitantly opened it. That Garchomp has to be around here somewhere. The only door available, is the large one. I prayed to whatever god is watching that the Garchomp is somewhere far away. The next room looked familiar... wait... I looked behind me to see the door gone. I was in the same room again but... why?

I walked over to the giant door again only to hear, "Garchomp!"

I looked to see that Garchomp charging at me. I quickly went through the door and found myself in an endless loop. This has to be some kind of puzzle...

I said to myself, "The Garchomp will be here soon."

I ran into my cage and closed it, waiting for the Garchomp to walk by. Sure enough, it did, ignoring my presence before going through the door. I scratched my chin, wondering what to do until the key was thrown in again.

Then I snapped my fingers, "I got it!"

I quickly grabbed the key and left the cage. I then closed the cage and locked it from the outside. Only downside, if I'm wrong, I'm pretty much dead since the cage will be locked. The door opened a bit heavy than before, revealing a dark cave. A part of me said 'Nope.' and the other part said 'Fuck it.' I had no idea what was waiting in that cave and no way of seeing either.

I shrugged, "The worst that could happen is a quick death."

Walking forward, nothing seemed to happen as I stayed in the exact same position. I shook my head, going back in the room to grab a torch. The cave illuminated, revealing nothing but stone. I walked forward, able to finally travel through the dark until I saw a light. I ran for it, reaching the outside of the cave and revealing a Snow Covered floor. Icy Mountains, A large Lake frozen over, small Cottage Villages, and Pine Tree Forests. The cold hit me immediately, making me shiver. I tried to open my menu but still couldn't.

Then I heard a voice, "What the hell are you doing out here!?"

I looked to see Silvia coming towards me angrily, "Silvia?"

Silvia glared at me, "You broke out!"

I flinched, "You put me in there?"

Then I remembered.

-At the end of the last chapter-

I was screaming, "Stop touching me!"

Silvia had me paralyzed, sitting on her lap as she explored my body with her hands, "No."

I flinched when she ran her hands over my privates, "You have no right to do this."

Silvia chuckled in my ear, "I think I do, you're trapped in a game where the strong live while the weak die. I'm stronger than you, you're at my mercy, I can do anything I want to you."

I bit my bottom lip lightly as she started licking my neck, "S-so what then? You'll kill me afterwards?"

Silvia smirked into my neck, "No, that'd be a waste. I need you alive for my... in lack of a better word, desires."

I flinched when she started licking my neck again, "I thought we were friends..."

She ignored that, "You must be sensitive around your neck."

I blushed, "Shut up."

She rubbed my member, stroking it, "I think that's enough foreplay."

I asked her, "What are you going to do?"

She grabbed my arm, making a black flame hover over her finger, "That's quite simple... I'm going to make you mine."

She slowly inched her finger towards my arm, "W-wait! You'll kill me!"

Silvia smirked at that, "Oh? You're still more scared of death than me raping you?"

I looked down as she started using heal pulse, "..."

Silvia grinned, "I thought so."

I avoided eye contact, "Just... get it over with..."

Silvia made me look at her, kissing me hard with her tongue exploring my mouth. My eyes twitched as she used her hand on my member. She pulled back, pulling her dress under her C cup breasts to expose them.

I blushed, whispering, "Are... you a demon?"

Silvia smirked, exposing a sharp tooth, "I'm a female demon, my Succubus form is designed to punish humans. You humans saw us as sexual objects, even our creators, so... we merely evolved into that. Sure, you'll get your fun under the covers... but then we'll take your life!"

I flinched from her sudden yell, "I... I've done nothing wrong... so why me?"

Silvia's smirk widened, "You're unwilling, that means you're different. You're a viable male to our... cultural rule. Normal Gardevoir, as well as Succubii, must choose their mate and rape them. If their potential mate stops them, then they can't be their mate ever again. If not, then you're married to your rapist. When this is over, you'll be married to me."

I bit my lip, glaring at her, "No! I will not marry you! Once this paralysis is over, I'll kill you! I'll mmph-!"

Silvia shoved her hand in my mouth, "Mm. I like it when you're feisty."

Her hand is too big to bite on, "Mmphs!"

Silvia pulled out her hand, shoving her shard and breasts into my face, "You like what you see little boy?"

I blushed hard, looking up at her with an angry expression, "S-shut up!"

She rubbed them in my face, "Come on, you know you like them."

I glared at her, "...You're not real..."

Silvia pushed me onto the ground, pinning my paralyzed body, "I'm very real Rui. Mmmmm, you need to be punished."

She grabbed my arm, using a black flame over her finger, "W-wait! Please don't!"

Silvia ignored my plea, burning strange symbols into my skin. To make it worse, I could feel it like it was real. It didn't feel natural, I've taken damage before, but this hurts a lot! It's like the game increased the amount of pain I can feel tenfold. I was screaming at the top of my lungs, unable to even move. When she finished, the flames danced over the polygons before sinking in. The pain pulsated with a new burning sensation every couple of seconds.

"What... what did you do to me?" I asked, panting hard.

Silvia chuckled, "I wrote my name into your very skin. You're mine. It's what you get for being so stubborn and ignoring my warnings."

I frowned, looking at her, "Again... I thought you were my friend."

I sniffled a bit, earning a snicker from her, "You silly little kid. I only talked to you because I liked you."

I frowned more, "So... you were targetting me?"

Silvia imitated a gun shooting at me, "Bingo. I knew I would catch you in the wild alone. My special Ability lets me steal the Exp of players I kill."

My eyes widened, "What!?"

Silvia laughed evilly, "I've been killing players for their exp since day one."

I glared at her, "That's how you've been leveling so quickly!"

I squeaked in surprise as Silvia stabbed her Rapier into the ground next to my head, "I beat them all fair and square. They had their chance, maybe if they weren't assholes, I wouldn't kill them."

I frowned, "Not everyone is proud of what they've done."

Silvia smacked me, "Spare me. Now, I think we've waited long enough."

Silvia made me watch as she brushed aside her dress, revealing her womanhood. I moaned silently as she slid down on me, immediately bouncing without letting me get used to the feeling. It felt warm, slimy, and alien with her inner walls squeezing me. She tugged on my hair, laying on me as her hips went to work.

She kissed me, "Think you can help me make a baby?"

I turned my head away, "It's a game, nothing is real..."

Silvia bit my ear as she rode me, then she whispered in my ear, "Yeah, keep telling yourself that while I rape you. Fool yourself into believing you're safe in your bed."

I panted, feeling my body start to enjoy her movements, "Shut up... just... please shut up and finish this..."

Silvia started going faster, "As you wish but... let's try my other hole."

I looked at her, "What do you mean?"

Silvia flipped, laying on top of me with her back. Her ass grinding against my area before forcing it to enter her ass. I instantly opened my mouth with a gasp from how much tighter it is. She slid up and down, kissing my cheek repeatedly as I gasped and moaned. I couldn't take it anymore and ended up cumming inside her. She cooed into my ear but kept riding me until my orgasm subsided. When she got off me, I noticed she was only turning around. Without warning, she started riding me in her vagina again, making me scream.

I eventually stopped screaming and just grunted my displeasure since I was sensitive, 'Why did they put this in the game, ugh, it feels too real.'

Silvia started riding me harder, moaning, "Almost there..."

I started feeling my second orgasm coming until Silvia suddenly slammed down and came on me. I cried out in both discomfort and pleasure as she forced me to orgasm. She made me look at her, staring evilly into my eyes. Her eyes began to glow a dark purple, I passed out shortly after that.

-Present-

My arm began to burn, causing me to collapse while screaming, "Ack!"

Silvia was level 117 now, a level so much higher than my own, "You remember now? I put you in there to keep you safe. Why were you trying to run away?"

I looked up at her, "I... you took away my memories! How could I remember why I was trapped in that room?"

Silvia smirked, "I purposely made it easy for you to escape. You're my husband now, I know where you are at all times now, thanks to my mark."

The mark burned more as I held my hand on it, "Ugh... I'm not your husband!"

Silvia rolled her eyes, "Fine, then you're my little boy toy. A very helpless one at that." She licked her lips.

I shivered at that, "Leave me alone!"

I turned to run but she laughed, "Where will you go? What will you do?"

I turned to look at her, shivering, "What do you mean?"

Silvia smiled at me, "You have no health, no means of protecting yourself and completely outclassed by the pokemon here. Your life is in my hands now, I'm your god. You want to live, well you will, as my sexy little human slave."

I glared at her defiantly, "I'm no one's slave. I'm destined to be one of the greatest players in this game!"

Silvia looked aside smiling, "True, you have great potential and skill, but now... you're a nobody. Everyone believes you're dead, even your friends."

I shook my head, "You're lying! The game knows I'm alive so i have to appear on their frienda list!"

Silvia walked over to me, cupping my cheek, "Aw, it terrifies you, doesn't it?"

Her voice sounded demonic as every began to turn a dark shade of red, "Huh?"

She bent down to my ear, "You're all alone now Rui. Isn't that what you wanted? Isn't that why you ran away from your friends? I was there. I saw you and heard what you said to your friend. You thought it'd keep them safe because they'd stay together while you became a great swordsman. When you came to find me, I was overjoyed. A chance to meet such a honorable player was nothing to scoff at. Then... I was introduced to your alluring personality. You doomed yourself fool."

I felt the world spinning as I starTed to understand, "You're... using your powers."

Silvia looked into my eyes, "Of course. You and I have a lot of work to do. Once I wipe your memory, I'll mold you into the perfect slave. It'll be fun."

Before I could say anything, I began to glow. Silvia looked surprised as I began to fade away and teleported somewhere else.

(Oh damn. Rui is saved... I think. I don't have Internet for a few days so I'm kind of screwed on typing. Sorry guys. I hope to see some more awesome reviews since you guys are killing it.)


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Dark's Covenant

{Rui's Point of View }

(Floor 0: Dark's Domain)

I woke up to pitch black, my body being dragged by my ankle. I did my best to see what was dragging me, what I found was a black metal tentacle. The floor and walls are made from black marble with holes revealing a black void. The tentacle pulled viciously until a teal transparent shield came into sight. The tentacle let go and disappeared, letting me stand.

I looked at the shield, "Where am I?"

A dark voice answered me, "Exactly where you belong."

I looked through the shield to see a small room with a shirt man in it. He looked like me... almost except he was older with multiple vicious scars covering his torso and arms. His eyes looked empty yet angry with black instead of white and deep crimson red as his eye color. His pale skin looked strained from all the scars with sweatpants covered in cuts.

I needed to know, "Who are you?"

He looked at me, "Who do you think I am?"

I tilted my head in confusion, "How am I supposed to know?"

He smirked, "Well, you are the one holding my sweater and babdana, aren't you?"

I flinched, "You're that Dark guy?"

Dark grinned, "Yes, however, who I am is kind of complicated."

Something tugged in my chest, like I somehow was happy to see this stranger, "Why are you trapped in here?"

Dark frowned, "It's my own fault, let me explain. Do you know about the alternate universes?"

I raised a brow, "That's some real sci-fi shit man. Do I look like I watch Star Trek?"

Dark looked at me with a smirk, "Would you be if I said yes?"

I crossed my arms, "Get to the point."

Dark stood up, "My birth happened long before you in another time. You were a prince, raised by your father, and fell in love with your Gardevoir servant. Then... a lot of horrible things happened caused by a girl named Mary. Eventually you fell into despair, losing both your eye sight and your love. The burning hatred within you created me, your alter ego. I was cruel, merciless, destiny defying. I caused many horrible things to happen. I even refused to die, becoming a nobody named Darx in the process. I almost destroyed that universe... but I failed. The hatred didn't stop there, I decided to use my power to infect every universe I'm connected to indirectly. I never got far enough to destroy one yet, then again, I wouldn't really know."

I didn't really believe him, honestly, I just didn't want to believe him, "The Gardevoir... what was her name?"

Dark gave me a searching stare before closing his eyes, "Her name was Silvia... here... I'll give you a fond memory... your memory."

-My Unwanted life, before they died-

I started waking up, hearing the cute snoring of a baby Ralts, "Aw... she looks so peaceful."

I gently hugged my daughter, kissing her head. She snuggled into me, sighing happily. I heard a door open, watching my mate walk in. Silvia looked so happy to see us like this.

She tip toed over to me and sat on the bed, "Hi Rui." She smiled at me.

I turned to look at her, "Hello lovely."

Silvia gently pat my head before draping her leg over me and laid on top, "Hee hee, how did you sleep?"

I blushed, caressing her cheek, "I always sleep well with my family."

I gave her a gentle smile, staring into her eyes, "I love you Rui."

I kissed her, "I love you too sweetheart."

She blushed hard, knowing what I was going to do next, "Rui, not when she's asleep."

I grinned naughtily, rubbing her heart, "I can't hear you," I whispered in her ear, "It's too dark in here."

She moaned as I licked her neck, "Mm, but it's not dark and that doesn't affect sound that much."

I smiled, nuzzling her neck, "You remembered."

Silvia nuzzles my head, "Of course I did."

I pulled back, "Silvia..."

Silvia smiled, "Yes love?"

I love the sparkle in her eyes, "You're beautiful."

Silvia kissed me, "I know."

I blushed, looking at Alivia, "I'm still pretty bad at this."

Silvia pat my head, kissing my neck, "Yes but we're together and... I want to be with you forever."

I looked at her, hugging her tightly, "Do you really?"

Silvia nodded, "Rui, no matter what happens, no matter who we face, I will always be there to heal you, to protect you, just as you protect us. When this is all over, we'll come back here and spend the rest of our lives together right?"

I kissed her hard, hugging her tightly as the memory faded.

-Back to Purgatory-

I blinked, looking at the blue shield as a tear appeared but quickly disappeared, "That was... nice."

Dark nodded, "Do you understand now?"

I looked down sadly, "I do."

Dark crossed his arms, "You died... so did Silvia and your daughter."

I flinched, "Is... there anyway to change that?"

Dark shook his head, "No. I'm sorry."

I eyed him suspiciously, "Are you going to use me to destroy everything?"

Dark shook his head no, "When I came to this universe, I turned into a microchip."

I raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "Out of all things, a microchip?"

He nodded, "I couldn't exist outside this game as a being of power. This universe has no powers, no gods, only technology."

I still find this hard to believe, "What happened?"

Dark tapped his elbow, "The head programmer is using me to create this game. My power is able to sustain the entire game while keeping me lock in here powerless."

I frowned, "Then how did I get here? How are you of any help to me?"

Dark pointed at me, "You came here by yourself. Your fear, your hatred, they guided you here through my items."

I looked aside, "I... I was scared but I not hate filled!"

Dark held a hand towards me, "Calm down. No one can harm you here. What Silvia did to you is normal, don't worry about it."

I scoffed, "She raped me!"

Dark yelled back, "So what!? She always does that! It's a part of Gardevoir culture! Don't take it so personally!"

I flinched, looking down, "I'm sorry."

Dark shrugged, "Apologies aren't necessary."

I sighed, "What... should I do about her?"

Dark rolled his eyes, "Did you like her?"

I nodded, "..."

Dark shook his head, "It's okay to still like her Rui. Evil or not, she probably cares about you deep down."

I did a mock laugh, "She always does... I think..."

Dark became serious, "Now for the real reason you're here."

I was confused, "What's the real reason?"

Dark closed his eyes, opening his arms, "It is time for you to join my Covenant."

I raised a brow, "Why should I join your Covenant?"

Dark began to grin, giving me an evil look, "I can give you perks guilds can only dream of, solo exp boosts, better loot drops, acceleration in rank development and, best of all, the location of my sweatpants and sword."

I was intrigued, "Your sweatpants and Sword?"

Dark nodded, "I'm powerless, but that doesn't mean I can't pass on my power. I always watch you Rui, you went on your own from the start, you solo bosses like a monster. I'll be trapped here forever but you, you can be freed and use the same power that traps the players, in order to free everyone."

I admit... this sounded good but... "What would I lose by siding with you?"

Dark's body seemed to darken, "My power... is a curse." He punched the shield but ended up being thrown back, "But... urk... it's easily controlled by desire and hate. Control that hate and my power is yours. It's that simple."

I scratched my chin in thought, "There has to be more to it, do you know why they made this game?"

Dark reverted to normal, "Only time will tell."

I began pacing, "Okay, what should I do? Silvia will be interfering with my levrling."

Dark laid on the ground, "You must wear my sweater and bandana once you join my covenant. Take up my persona and be the darkness that guides them through the light. Only you can do that and gain the remaining pieces."

I couldn't open my inventory, "I can't..."

Dark gently placed his hand on the shield, "Silvia has her mark on you, place your hand on the shield to complete the covenant contract."

I did as he asked and placed my hand, "What now?"

I noticed black markings began to glow on my arm, they quickly dispersed, leaving a small black dot on my forearm. I looked at it before the sweater and bandana appeared on my body with my sword strapped over my shoulder again. My health bar began to fill again and a small black dot existed under my health bar. I looked at Dark to see he was gone and the room disappeared.

-Floor 1 (Town of Beginnings)-

I appeared in the middle of the town, the exact spot the creator of this world told us what happened. The sweater and Bandana concealed me upper body in a cloak of shadows. My name was listed as deceased, running a chill up my spine. Suddenly, my menu blinked with a notification.

I opened it, earning a message, "As the sole member of the Dark Covenant, it is up to you to destroy evil orange/red guilds for additional bonuses. Would you like to start now?"

I suddenly felt myself smiling, "Oh my... a chance to punish thoa that choose to hurt or kill? How could I possibly resist."

The sudden feeling of bloodless I felt was uncharacteristic of me... ia this a part of the curse Dark spoke of? Am I going to become a monster? How can I control it if I have to feel desire and hate all the time? Naturally, those feelings cause people to lose their minds, was joining willingly a wrong choice? Am I strong enough to control such fabled powers... Silvia... will I get access to more of those kind memories of her if I go along with Dark? Only time will tell.

-Floor 25 (Forest of Despair)-

{Silvia's Point of View}

I walked into my village, wondering where my prey had run off to. My mark isn't working anymore and he was teleported... right? I'll know my answer at the ancient glyph inside my village. Most of my people are the fairy varisnt, living calm and peaceful lives. My kind are developed to keep them safe by creating a deep fear of Gardevoir within players. I enjoyed it, but I wanted a mate and I couldn't bring Rui here... I don't know what to do...

On my way, a Zoroark was waiting for me, "Silvia, there you are."

I looked at him, "Temah, how are you?"

Temah walked with me, "The higher ups are getting there. Soon, the plan may be executed."

I smiled, "That's wonderful news."

Temah glanced at me, "What of the boy?"

I feigned ignorance, "What boy?"

Temah chuckled, "The boy you love to visit in the hospital."

I shrugged, "I have no idea who you're talking about."

Temah smirked, "You know, he's getting pretty pissed off at you for your visits. You forget, our master has eyes and ears everywhere, even in the human world."

I didn't care, "So what? I like the kid. Who cares?"

Temah looked up, "You know... we've been working really hard, it'd be a real shame if it all went to waste."

I looked at him, "Just get to the point."

Temah smiled, "The boy's brother is suspicious of you. You really need to be careful with your illusions. You may be able to copy it, but you're not the best at it."

I closed my eyes, letting out a sigh, "It's fine. The plan will be completed within the year as long as the players continue up the floors."

Temah suddenly says, "You need to stop killing them now."

I flinched, "What? Why now?"

Temah shook his head, "If you keep killing top players, they'll give up. They need hope."

I stopped walking, crossing my arms and tapping my elbow in thought, "Hm... you know what? That's fine. I have other things to do and being a wanderer found in secret bars can be fun."

Temah nodded, "Then it's agreed. Now, I must go. I need to awaken floor 38's boss."

I waved goodbye, "Good luck."

Temah teleported away with a telwportation crystal, leaving me to go to my village's sacred glyph unhindered. The giant crystal is 6 meters tall with a rugged cylinder complex. Bumps and cracks make the glyph uneven in many places from its radius of 67 centimeters. Many white markings and drawings are scattered all along the blue texture. The white turned black when it glowed upon my approached.

A whisper along the wind asked, "Who are you searching for?"

I asked, "The one that I am destined with, the one I own and must keep."

The whisper chuckled, "He is dead."

I flinched, "That must be false."

The whisper giggled, "I am never wrong little one."

I clenched my hands, "Who killed him?"

The whisper said, "He was last with you, therefore you have killed him."

I shook my head, "I was keeping him safe! He's too reckless! He almost died against some of those bosses and I needed to keep him safe!"

A gentle laughter met my ear, "For someone who claims love, you have a funny way to show it misguided Gardevoir. Molestation, kidnapping, torture, must I go on?"

I turned my head away angrily, "Tsk, it's in my programming, don't you dare judge me too. I wanted to be normal but instead, I'm this."

The laughter grew louder, "You feel guilty, you feel guilty, you feel guilty, you feel guilty."

I closed my eyes, "Stop it."

It rang in my ears, "You feel guilty, you feel guilty, you feel guilty."

I blocked my ears, "Stop it!"

It somehow grew louder and louder, "You feel guilty, you feel guilty, you feel guilty!"

I attacked the glyph with an ice punch, "Shut up!"

It didn't leave a scratch at all as an immortal object tag came up, "Goodbye guilty one."

I turned away instantly, "Tsk, I'm not guilty!"

I teleported away.

-Floor 13 (Soles Town)-

{Jay's Point of view}

I was staring at my friends list in horror, looking at Rui's name with deceased next to it. I couldn't believe it... Rui... how can he be dead? I know he was kidnapped but... dead!? No... no..!

Anthony and Derek came into the room, saying, "Please tell me my friends list is glitched."

I shook my head, "No... it can't be... Rui's gone."

Derek turned around, gripping his hair, "I... that bastard... that stuborn intelligent bastard..."

Anthony was crying, "He was our best friend! I've seen others die, but I never thought he'd be one of the game's victims. How are we going to escape now?"

I stared at Rui's name before getting, "By training. From here on out, we're going to fucking destroy this game. Rui has always out leveled us, but that's because he worked his ass off every day. We can work just as hard with less odds of hazards. There's three of us, we play smart and nothing can kill us."

Derek turned towards me, "You're right."

I flinched, "I am?"

Derek nodded, patting Anthony's back, "The best way to honor our friend, is to work hard and beat the hell out of this game."

I nodded, "Damn right, actually, I have a great idea on how."

Anthony looked at me, "How?"

Derek rolled his eyes, "Let me get the popcorn and a camera, we need to document Jay's one great moment."

I sighed, "Fuck you Derek. Anyways, I say we finally make a guild."

Anthony raised a brow, "Didn't we do that already?"

I shook my head, "No. This time we'll make a huge guild in honor of Rui. Everyone he's helped is bound to join and help us defeat these bosses."

Derek scratched his chin, "You know what? Let's ride this wave. I am on this 100% now, what should we name this guild?"

I smiled, "We'll name it Murloc's followers!"

Derek gave me a blank look, "Did I say 100%? I meant 2."

I was flabbergasted, "What's wrong with it?"

Derek crossed his arms, looking at me in concern, "That name sucks man. I know our boy murloc liked to rampage, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't like a large following."

I laughed, "Rui is pretty conceited at times."

Derek raised a brow, "No he's not. Rui has never been conceited. He's too busy being a depressed child."

Anthony agreed with Derek, "Yeah... he's not really the type to want fame."

I was stubborn, "I'm naming it Murloc's followers. I don't give a fuck what you two say."

Derek chuckled, whispering to Anthony, "Now who's conceited."

Anthony whispered back, "I'm pretty sure he's retardedly conceded."

Derek chuckled, "Damn, I didn't think you'd have a burn in you."

I ignored both of them, working on making the guild immediately.

(For now, I may be shifting perspective to a brand new character in the next chapter but no promises. I hope you guys enjoyed and I have half of a chapter for a new story almost done. I won't say which one it is though. Sorry for the wait. Hope you enjoy and review please. :)


	9. Chapter 8

Ch. 8 Zachary

(Sorry we're going to have Zach be our main guy for two to three chapters. Time needs to pass before our pal Rui comes into play.)

{Zachary's Point of View}

-October 3rd, 2041-

[Status of the Game so far]

Top Player of the Current Chapter: LowePlays

Gender: Male

Age: 18 years old

level: 72

Class: Field Commander

Weapon: (Super Rare)Excaliburn and Divine Cross

Skills: 47

Guild: The Sacred Blood Oath

Guild Leader: Vexal

Quests completed: 1082

Players left in the Game: 1.73 million

Players that have Died: 861,432

Floor Bosses defeated: 39

Highest Floor Achieved: 32

My name is Zachary... or it used to be... Now I'm called ZK The Meat Shield... It's been 7 horrid months since this game came out. My best friends have died... My brother... has died... It was all my fault...

-Months Earlier-

When the game first started... me and my brother created our characters together. Somehow the game knew we were both playing. It recommended two classes for us, big brother and little brother. The class presented bonuses exclusive to us as long as we are together. When we found out about the death game we were trapped in, my brother wanted us to stay on the first floor. I said we couldn't because we all needed to work together in order to survive. My friends were trapped in the game as well and the ten of us made our own guild. It was so stupid, we called ourselves The Heaven's Harp. For three months we worked hard to level up in order to be useful... In the end, we lost each other before we even reached the front lines.

"Brother... I want to see mom."

I looked at my little brother, a seven year old child that's done nothing wrong. He's only 3 foot 6 inches with short blonde hair and brown eyes. His avatar wore a tanned shirt with brown wool pants and sandals. His pale skin shone brightly in the sun with a very fragile build. As the big brother, the game makes me carry him on my back no matter where we go.

Me on the other hand, I'm 18 years old with blonde hair and blue eyes. I was lucky to get the blue eyes, and they made my brother so jealous. I stood at 6 foot 4 with a fragile build like his but my skin was slightly darker. My nose and mouth were a bit smaller than average but I didn't mind since I had big hands. I wore leather armor that completely covered my torso and legs with metal shoes. Straps crossed over my chest with a carrier bag on my back. When we traveled, my brother would be protruding from the bag, hanging onto me. A lot of the female characters and players thought it was adorable.

I pat my brother's head as he sat on our inn's bed, "I know you do little buddy."

My brother frowned, "How long until we can finally see our parents again?"

I looked down, shaking my head, "I don't know little bud. The top players have barely gotten to floor 13, let alone 100. We're going to be trapped her for a long time..."

My brother looked so sad as he looked down, "Are... we going to die..?"

I flinched, gripping his shoulders, "We're not going to die!"

My brother flinched, looking down, tearing up, "But Charlie died yesterday! We almost died too!"

I shook him slightly, "There is no way I'm letting either of us die!"

My brother wouldn't stop crying, "How do you know!? Charlie fell in a hole! You wouldn't even let me see! All I heard was his yells!"

I smacked him, "Stop acting like everything is hopeless!"

He held his cheek in shock, "But-"

I cut him off, "No buts! Charlie was unlucky! We still have everyone else and they won't abandon us for anything! We're level 27 now, we can take care of ourselves! You're a good little brother, you've helped save me and our friends! You can't act weak right now because you need to be strong. Steven, you're an important gear in our machine, your smile helps everyone. We need you to stay happy to make everyone else happy. We'll get home one day, you just need to be patient."

My brother wiped his eyes, "Okay bro... I believe you."

I nodded, patting his back, "Come on, we're going to meet everyone at the bar. Our leader found a new cave to explore."

He climbed onto my back, "Okay bro, let's go."

With him on my back, I got up and let our room.

[Floor 5]

(Ricard's Bar-Town of Drunkard)

The rest of our gang waited for us at the bar, sitting at a large round table. Our leader, Skiel, had a map out showing the entire floor. Skiel is a level 39 Marauder known for his destructive power. He uses heavy weapons that commit to guard breaking and damage. I don't think I've seen an enemy or player that's been able to block him yet.

He began telling us what our mission today is, "Team, I've got word of a secret dungeon on this floor. It's full of enemies higher leveled than the others on this floor but we're still higher."

Our asian friend, a girl named Janessa, asked, "What's important about this item?"

Skiel smiled, "Rumor has it, it can resurrect dead players."

My friend Kyle asked, "Are you sure about this man? That sounds too good to be true."

I had to agree with Kyle, "Yeah, this sounds fishy."

Another girl, Kathy, said, "C'mon guys! This may be our one chance to bring Charlie back!"

I frowned, "But they said that when you die in the game, you die for real. How can he come back if he's already dead?"

Kathy scoffed, "How do we know if we really do die?"

Kyle replied, "If we wouldn't die, we'd be out of the game by now."

Skiel nodded, "Right. Plus, even if the item doesn't bring Charlie back, we'll still be able to use it the next time one of us dies."

My little brother poked his head out, "Are you sure we'll be fine?"

Skiel nodded, "Positive. The enemies there are only level 25 or lower, we'll be fine."

I scratched my chin, "Maybe we should ask some of the top players for help."

Skiel shook his head, "We can't, they'll try to take the item for themselves."

I bit my lip, "Yeah... you're right..."

Our friend Richard spoke up, "If we're just careful, we'll get the item no problem. I can detect some traps with one of my skills, if anything, I'll give you guys a warning."

Kathy glared at him, "Like how you warned Charlie?"

Richard got a little defensive, "Hey! I wasn't there to warn him!"

Kathy rolled her eyes, "Oh yeah? Then why did you conveniently arive two seconds later?"

Richard slammed his fist on the table, "I was busy fighting a group of pokemon!"

Kathy kept her glare, "Apparently so busy you weren't there to save your friend."

Richard was livid, "You're only butthurt because you loved Charlie with that sandy vagina of yours!"

I yelled, "Guys! Shut the hell up! Charlie's death was no one's fault!"

Richard and Kathy both turned their heads yelling, "Hmph!"

Skiel facepalmed, "Guys, we can't fight amongst ourselves now. We need teamwork like we always have."

We all agreed, having one last meal at the bar before heading out for our mission. Along the way, my brother kept his eyes open for anything dangerous. As a little brother, his field of vision is increased by 50% with enemy's mark in red. If he spots anything, he'll let us know. The walk there wasn't dangerous at all, not even evil players were along the way. Richard walked beside me with an angry expression. He's a taller dark skinned male with black curly hair. His eyes are brown with dark patches of skin making a leaf on his left cheek. His arms were muscular like they were in real life. His character is a level 31 trapper, allowing him to not only make traps but detect them based on his level of expertise. However, he's still at an amateur level so most traps are still beyond his sight. He wasn't allowed to wear armor because of his class so he only wore a black shirt with brown pants. A large backpack was strapped onto his back, allowing him to hold a lot more items. Using items, he can craft his weapons and traps.

I decided to talk to him, "You okay?"

Richard answered quickly, "No. Kathy got under my skin."

I pat his back, "Don't worry about it, she was just blowing off some steam. Charlie's death hit her the hardest you know?"

Richard looked aside, "Tsk, I know. That dumb broad is always bitching about it."

I put my hand up for a fist bump, "I always got your back man."

He bumped fists with me, "Yeah I know, me too brother."

My little brother tried to join in, "Me three!"

Richard smiled, bumping fists with Sam, "Keep those eyes peeled little man."

My brother grinned, "They're always open."

We arrived at the cave to find a player sitting near the entrance. He eyed us suspiciously with a black straight sword in his right hand. He didn't have a shield equip but wore a set of black leather armor. His black spiky hair extended down to barely graze over his eyes. His name was Murloc_Rampage and he was level 52.

Skiel approached him, "Murloc, what are you doing here? I thought you were on the front lines."

Murloc_Rampage got up, "I was going to explore the cave but it seems you will beat me to the punch."

Skiel questioned him, "You could have easily solod this cave, why didn't you?"

Murloc_Rampage looked aside, tilting his head, "I'm not sure. Something doesn't feel right, now if you'll excuse me, I have seven hours of sword fighting practice ahead of me."

Skiel shook his head, "He always was an antisocial person."

I decided to ask, "He practices for 7 hours?"

Skiel laughed, "That's not normal for him. I hear he usually practices every waking moment."

I looked at Murloc_Rampage as he walked off, "Wow... he must be an amazing swordsman."

The nine of us walked into the cave, immediately finding ourselves in pitch black darkness. Richard quickly used some materials to create torches for us to use. With our paths now visible, we were able to venture deep into the cavern. At one point, Skiel stepped on a switch as a wall came down from the ceiling. We all jump forward in surprise but only Richard got caught underneath. His torch was still lighting up the area, revealing his twitching arm before it shattered with the rest of his body.

I screamed, "Richard!"

Kathy was in absolute shock, "He... can't be dead... right?"

I shook my head, crying, "I can't believe he died that quickly from a trap!"

A loud siren suddenly rang as the entire cave lit up, "Trap activate, now sending in Nidokings and Drapions."

The 8 of us clumped together in a defensive stance as we were surrounded by level 40 enemies. They attacked us Relentlessly, causing all of us to either get fatally wounded or poisoned. Eventually, Skiel broke a whole through their lines, allowing us to run through.

Skiel yelled, "Everyone! This way!"

All of us ran in his direction, trying to get away from the overleveled enemies. My little brother hugged me tightly, scared for what will happen. As we ran, a Nidoking busted through the wall from my right. My back hit the wall hard and I barely got out of the way. I was surrounded again and watched as my friends were leaving me behind.

I blocked an attack from the Nidoking and tried to counter but it blocked, "Ugh..."

My little brother cried, "What do we do now brother!?"

I watched with my brother pressed against the wall as hope began to fade, "I... I'm so sorry little brother..."

Then, a blast of air blew past me as the nidoking in front of me was cut in half. I stared in shock as Murloc_Rampage ran past me. It was like in slow motion as he effortlessly sliced the Nidokings and Drapions apart. He ran along the wall jumping off the ceiling and walls as he held off the pokemon.

He yelled at me, "What the hell are you doing!? Run!"

I flinched from my brother hitting me, "Big bro, he's telling us to run."

I shook my head, "I can't just leave you! There's over 50 of them!"

Murloc never looked back at me, he just held a thumbs up at me, "I'll be fine. Trust me. I've faced worse. I'm not letting you die."

I stared at him in awe as he fought all of the enemies alone. His swordsmanship far surpassing mine as his level began to increase from all the exp he's gaining.

I began to run, "Thank you!"

I looked back to see him crack his neck and say, "Okay, time for some extreme training."

Throughout the cave, sounds of battle rang from Murloc destroying those pokemon. When I caught up to my friends, they were all panting from running.

Skiel said, "Thank god you're alright."

I panted, "I was saved by that murloc guy."

Janeesa asked, "Why did you abandon him?"

I crossed my arms angrily, "Like how you guys abandoned me?"

Janeesa flinched before looking down, "Sorry..."

My little brother popped his head out, "Don't worry, we forgive you, right brother?"

I sighed, "Yeah, we're alive so that's a plus."

Skiel looked past me, "Alright, Murloc is going to be fine so we need to keep moving."

I asked, "How did he even find us? I thought he left?"

Skiel shrugged, "I don't know, he's a good guy so maybe he just couldn't leave us alone."

I sighed, "I hope that's the case. He saved my life without a second thought."

The 8 of us ventured deeper into the cave, ready for anymore traps. Thanks to the light, we were able to see everything properly. More pokemon attacked us but they were no match for our teamwork. Eventually our persistence paid off and we arrived in a large white room.

A male voice rang throughout the room, "My my, I've been so bored."

We looked at a large throne to see what looked like a Hybrid between a Banette and a Human. He's 6 feet tall wearing a cloak that looked like it was made out of a banette. It mouth is a yellow zipper with it unzipped to the left. His skin is a mixture of white and black that seemed to move on its own. He sat on the throne almost in a fetal position before sitying up. His hands are all black with sharp purple claws. The cloak completely covered his feet and legs. The cloak open up to reveal his stomach and chest that have white and black patches.

Skiel asked, "Who are you?"

? was over his head with a green health bar, "Who am I? Hm... I think you should wonder what I am, don't you think too? Hah~ Hah~ Hah~"

The way he laughed was borderline creepy. His eyes are a deep yellow with a black demon slit. He grinned at us with his zipper mouth before disappearing. When he reappeared, he grabbed another one of our friends and bit his neck.

The rest of us were frozen as blood was drank from our friend as he yelled out, "Help me you guys! HELP ME!"

All of us stared in shock, frozen, unable to help our friend as his hitpoints reached zero. His body slumped to the ground and shattered.

All of us gasped, letting the hybrid wipe his zipper lips, "Ah, how refreshing, hah hah hah~"

I readied my weapon, "What are you!? Heyah!"

I ran at him, attacking him with a forward strike, but he caught my attack. I stared into his eyes in shock as he grinned in my face.

He said, "I'm a demon, what else could I be?"

I pulled back trying to attack him again. The hybrid jumped back disappearing and reappearing behind me. He grabbed my little brother for a moment until my ability threw him back.

He backflipped over my friends and landed a few feet from them, "I see, that's an interesting ability. There are seven of you left and I'm still thirsty." He gave us an insane look, "Who's up next to feed me? Hah hah hah hah~!"

Skiel ran in, "Do not mock us!"

Skiel attack quickly with his Ax, slamming down with all his brute force. The hybrid easily dodged it, jumping aside before thrusting forward to kick Skiel's stomach. Skiel screamed in pain as he was thrown into Janeesa. I went to help as Kathy tried to kill him with three of our friends. The hybrid just laughed at them, dodging their attacks, effortlessly toying with them. I watched, feeling a sense of despair as he began killing them slowly. Another one of us was grabbed and bit by him. their body spassing from theur blood being drained until they were dead. Wasn't... wasn't this just supposed to be a game? What kind of sick twisted monster would put this in a game!?

The hybrid wiped his lips, "Ah, that was quite refreshing. Now, what to do with the rest of you."

Then I heard Murloc_Rampage's voice, "Enough!"

All of us turned our heads to look at him, earning a, "Oooh?" from the hybried.

Murloc walked in with him sword extended, his level increased to 54, "Demon... You're not the one I'm looking for... but I'll kill you."

The hybrid grinned, "Ah, what a higher level compared to these livestock."

Murloc opened his menu taking out a potion, "With this, I'll end your game demon."

Murloc drank the potion, releasing a burst of air as all his stats increased drastically. The hybrid seemed to widened his eyes in excitement. His grin grew as he was ready for his next battle.

He yelled, "Yes! Show me what you got demon slayer!"

Murloc threw aside the empty potion, "Demon slayer? No, I'm the solo black swordsman and you're going to learn your manners today."

They both ran at each other, clashing a sword against claws. Their battle looked elegant, Rui's movements were perfectly timed with no excess movement. Backrolls, jump slashes, vertical cuts, special attacks. All were blocked or dodged as they fought with a level of skill tiers above ours. Skiel stared in shock from their titantic battle.

Skiel whispered, "How can they fight like this?"

I watched in awe as they suddenly fought along the walls and ceiling. That's a level of only the top 1% of players in the world can use. They fell back to the ground and clashed, trying to overpower one another.

The hybrid spat in his face, "Ah ha! Is that the best you got!?"

Murloc looked down, "No... I have so much more."

Suddenly, Murloc began overpowering the demon using one hand. The demon's face went from excited to concerned as he used two hands to push.

The hybrid wasn't laughing anymore, "How... there's no way you're this strong!"

Murloc grinned, revealing a much sharper tooth before laughing, "Of course I'm this strong you idiot!"

Using his free hand, Murloc slammed his fist into the hybrid's stomach. The hybrid choked in pain, falling to his knees coughing. With a swift kick, Murloc hit the side of his head, sending him sprawling into a wall to the right.

Murloc tapped his sword on his shoulder, saying, "Come on, come on, I just finally loosened up. You can't give up that quickly."

The hybrid got up, his hp suddenly in the red as he struggled to look at Murloc, "Two punches... and..." he coughed blood, "Is this... bleeding effect?"

Murloc smirked, "Of course it is. I am a one handed swordsman with a rank of 6. Each time you block a sword strike, bleeding effect is activated, building up inside you. This whole time you've been harming only yourself."

The hybrid collapsed forward, looking up at Murloc as he walked forward, "You... you can't be a player!"

Murloc smirked, "Unfortunately for you, I am."

Murloc stood over the hybrid, he looked like the most evil player I have ever seen. The hybrid tried to say something else but Murloc stabbed him through his neck.

Murloc chuckled darkly, "Hush now, no talking."

The hybrid finally died, exploding into a cloud of black smoke. Murloc turned his head towards us, grinning more.

I shivered, "Please don't kill us."

Murlic shrugged, "Wasn't planning on it. I must go now."

Murloc started leaving, all of us watching him with wide eyes. Shocked was an understatement.

Eventually I mustered up the courage to ask, "Who are you?"

He stopped, looking at me, "I'm Murloc. Tah tah."

With that, he left. The six of us that remained were too stunned to do anything. There's... only six of us now...

I looked at Skiel, "What... what should we do now?"

Skiel looked conflicted but said, "We keep going, I need to find that item now, we can't let our comrade's deaths be in vain."

All of us agreed and followed him down a secret path behind the throne. I began to wonder if what we're doing is right... or if it matters at all. Also, is murloc really a player or a monster in disguise?


	10. Chapter 9

Ch. 9 Possession

{Zachary's Point of View}

All of us ran through the secret hallway, reaching what appeared to be a large sacrificial room. Blood was everywhere, covering parts of the wall, floor and even the ceiling. In the middle of the room was a large glowing pentagram. A single ax was laid in it, as if trying to tempt us to pick it up. The entire weapon itself was black with a green edge. The second I saw it, I knew something was wrong with it and tried to warn Skiel.

I said, "I don't think this is a good idea man. Maybe we should just leave."

Skiel glared at me, "And waste all of our friend's lives! No way, I'm not letting them die in vain!"

Skiel sudden burst of anger shocked me, "But Skiel, what if it's a trap! I don't want all of us to die!"

My little brother poked his head, "Yeah, if we die no one will remember us. We need to live for them right?"

Skiel turned away, "Tsk, I'm not afraid of some glowing drawing and ax. I use an ax! I'm going to pick that weapon up!"

Kathy and the others got in his way, "There's no way we're letting you go through with this."

Skiel was surprised, "Kathy... Max... Fredrick... You three too?"

Max pulled out his shield and spear, "We need to leave Skiel, please. I don't want to die."

Skiel had his ax drawn, "Then you all can leave, I'll stay behind to find all the treasure."

Fredrick said, "We're not leaving one of our friends to die."

Skiel walked past them, laughing, "Oh, and you weren't willing to do that earlier?"

Max countered, "We were overwhelmed by the enemy, we couldn't do anything."

Skiel shook his head, "No... all of you are cowards... and cowards can't survive this game. Only the strong can survive this game!"

I screamed, "Don't do it!"

Skiel grabbed the ax, immediately letting out a blood curling scream. A black haze erupted from the weapon, encasing our friend it. We watched in horror as the haze seemed to be absorbed by Skiel's body. Weird red tattoos began to appear all over his body as his screams grew louder. The screams began to change into fits of coughing as he began to spit large amounts of blood. This went on for what seemed like an eternity until it, thankfully, stopped. Skiel collapsed onto the ground in front of him, the haze gone and his blood soaked into his weapon. All of us stared at him in shock, wondering if he was dead or not but his hp was full. Then, I saw a finger twitch as he began to laugh. The laughing grew louder as Skiel stood up, holding the ax in his right hand. He turned to us, his eyes are much more demonic than they were before. His canine teeth are longer and sharper, hanging out from his lip.

Skiel's voice was notably deeper, "So, your friend just wasn't strong enough to beat me on his own."

All of us flinched, "Who... are you?"

He grinned, running a finger along his weapon's edge, "Me? I'm Matskitana(Mah-tsk-anna), the demon ax."

I needed to know, "What... exactly are you and what did you do to our friend?"

Skiel smirked, "I'm the demon that dwells within this ax. As for your friend, he was foolish to grab me. When he did, we had to battle within his very soul. He ended up losing, so I took control of his body."

I gasped, "Can... can we get our friend back?"

Skiel looked at us, then, slowly, he raised a hand to his forehead, laughing lowly before bursting into full laughter, "You could! If it wasn't for one thing." he hung his head, the grin stretching across his face, "He gave himself up to his own desires. Once he did that, his fate was sealed before we even fought."

Kathy gasped, "There's... no way to save him?"

I shook my head, "There has to be a way!"

Skiel smiled at me, "There is one, defeat me."

Skiel slashed his ax horizontally, sending a blade of energy. All of us dodged it, taking out our weapons. Max was targeted first, Skiel raised his ax, a twisted happy look plastered on his demonic face. With one swing, Max's shield was cut in half, destroying it.

Max jumped back, "He destroyed my shield!"

Skiel grabbed his face quickly, "Don't waste your time speaking about nothing. Die little human."

I quickly ran in and blocked his ax, "You're not killing our friends!"

Skiel leaned closer, grinning, "I have no friends."

I surprised him by kicking his stomach, "Get back!"

Skiel didn't flinch, instead he kicked me into Max. I sat up just in time to see Fredrick's surprise jump attack was blocked by Skiel. Skiel licked his lips as a blade of energy cut through Fredrick, killing him instantly.

I screamed, "Fredrick!"

Max got up, "Quick, I need a new shield!"

My little brother popped out with one, "Here, use this!"

Max took it, "Thanks!"

While Max was in his menu, Kathy and I held Skiel back. Skiel was absolutely insane, his body twisting in the air inhumanely as we fought. Skiel knocked Kathy off her guard and I was too slow to help her, however, Max wasn't. He appeared in front of her, holding his new shield to block his attack.

Skiel smirked, "Begone, Destructive Slice."

A wave of energy sliced through Max's shield and cut his upper body off. Max's lower body fell back as his upper body landed a few feet from it. Kathy was too shock to do anything as Skiel walked over to him.

Max stared at Skiel, crying, eyes full of fear, "Don't!"

Skiel smiled, "See ya."

With a quick slice, he murdered Max, making him shatter as well. Kathy and I were the only one left to fight him. I looked at Kathy to see her visibly shaking in fear.

She whispered, "Impossible..."

I bit my lip, readying my sword and shield, "What should we do?"

I then heard footsteps and looked to see Kathy running away. While I was looking at her, a wave of destructive force flew over my head and sliced her head off. The rest of her body kept running until it fell forward onto the ground. Her head rolled to reveal her shocked tearful expression before shattering.

I was in so much shock, I couldn't move until I heard Skiel's laughter, "So, that's it huh?"

I turned to see Skiel leaning with his ax, "Huh?"

Skiel smiled, "You're the only one left."

I bit my lip, "Tsk."

My little brother asked, "Are we going to die now brother?"

I shook my head, "We're not dying today!"

My little brother hugged my neck, "I'm sorry I wasn't useful brother. If we die, I want you to know I'm sorry for being a burden."

I screamed, crying a bit, "You were never a burden you idiot!"

Skiel snickered, "Oh?"

I looked behind me to see Skiel holding my brother, "No... don't do it."

Skiel leaned forward with one hand at his ear, "Whaat? I can't hear you."

I yelled, "Don't kill him you bastard!"

I took a step forward only to pause as Skiel threw my brother up into the air, "Brother! Help me!"

Skiel readied himself, "Too late!"

I watched my brother fall, tears flowing as he mouthed, "I don't want to die."

Just as Skiel swung his ax and split my brother in half. I stared in shock as my brother split in two. His shocked expression burned a hole through my soul until he shattered.

I teared up, "No... no..! No! Nooooo!"

Skiel merely grinned at me, "Stop your crying, you still have to deal with my now."

I stood up, "You... you bastard."

A voice sounded, "Ability activated, sacrifice. All little brother exp, loot, hp, and benefits have now been given to big brother."

I felt a huge surge of energy as my lvl suddenly shot all the way up to level 43. My health suddenly increased from 5,250 to 16,750. My regen also increased from 200 a second, to 700 per second. I readied myself for battle but found myself surprised yet again.

Skiel smiled, "I think you're ready."

I flinched, "Ready for what?"

Without answering my question, Skiel slit his own throat and tossed his ax to me. In my surprise, I caught the ax as Skiel died from the suicidal throat slit. Then, everything went black.

I woke up in my bed, sitting up with a jolt and looking around, "Where... is this... my room..?"

I heard my brother's voice and quickly got out of my bed. I ran into the next room and found myself looking at my brother and friends. All of them were eating happily as we lived in the human world.

My brother greeted me, "Hi big brother!"

I hugged my brother tightly, "Oh thank god! It was just a dream!"

My brother smiled, "What do you mean?"

I pulled back, laughing with tears, "I dreamt that you all died!"

Skiel laughed, "We are dead."

I flinched "what?"

Kathy smiled brightly, "We all died because of your foolish decision to save your friends."

I shook my head, "No... I chose to stick with my friends to the end."

Richard laughed, "So you chose to die with your friends? Does that make you happy?"

I yelled, "Of course I am! I'd rather die with my friends than die alone!"

Skiel grinned, "Liar."

I flinched, "What?"

Kathy hung her head, grinning, "I can see the truth, you wanted to run the moment Skiel was possessed."

I shook my head, "You're wrong!"

My little brother had the same grin, "Are we? But brother... you didn't even try to lift a finger to save me."

I looked at him in horror, "I..."

Skiel laughed, "You were scared. You've always been a coward Zachary, always. Is that why you always hid behind us? Is that why you never trained on your own?"

I yelled out angrily, "I'm not a coward! You're... you're all messing with me right! You can't all be dead!"

Max laughed, "We are dead."

I grabbed Max's shirt, shaking him, "Cut the crap!"

As I shook him, he suddenly slumped as I realized he was dead. The bottom half of his body and arms were gone. I quickly jumped back in fear, some of his blood was on me. I looked around in fear, seeing everyone's dead bodies from when they died.

I curled into a ball, crying, "No more... please... no more."

All their bodies began to turn into a black haze and went into Skiel's body. I looked to see possessed Skiel stand up and grin at me.

I got mad, "Stop... stop using my friend's body you demon!"

I ran over and punched Skiel across his face. The demon smirked, turning into his turn form. It wasn't even a he, she looked like she was only 13 years old standing at 4 foot 5. Her crimson eyes were just like Possessed Skiel. Her hair extended past her waist with a bright pink color. She is caucasian white with a young body, so A cup breasts. Her body sported a very thin and slim form with her skin glistening in any light.

She smiled at me, a bit of blood dripping from her lip, "Well, aren't you mean."

I stepped back, "Who are you?"

She smirked, that same smirk I hate, "I'm Matskitana, the demon inside the cursed moonlight ax."

I glared at her, gripping her throat to choke her, "You murdered my friends!"

She gently laughed, "Yes, I did."

I squeezed, "I'll kill you!"

She laughed at that, "You can try but you can't kill a demon. I'm already dead."

I stopped squeezing, "You... Grrahhhh!"

I punched her as hard as I could, "I'll make you pay!"

She laughed as I beat her, "Go on! I love this sort of thing! Hit me harder!"

I flinched, backing away, "You psychopath..."

She got up, laughing, "I think I picked right... Come give me your blood human. I want to become your demon."

I blinked in surprise, "My demon?"

She grinned evilly, "You heard me. I will give you power. My power. Don't you want to escape this game?"

I narrowed my eyes, "You want my blood?"

She never stopped smirking, "Of course. I need your blood to give you power."

I shook my head, "I don't want your power!"

The black haze appeared and pierced my chest as she said, "It is no longer your choice Zach."

I gasped, choking blood from the black stabbing my chest, "Ugh... you..."

She giggled, "Be happy, you're the first human to get a cursed demon weapon."

-October 3rd, 2041-

I woke up in my new inn room on floor 31. My head was killing me as I tried to shake of my nightmare about how I got my cursed ax. I never used it, instead, I'm used as a shield to protect others from boss attacks. It's all I could allow myself to do after losing all my friends and brother.

Matskitana appeared as an illusion on my bed, "When will you use me."

I turned away from her, "Never. I'd sooner die."

She leaned to my ear, "You'll use me one day, just you wait."

I got up swinging my arm, "Just leave me alone you damn monster!"

I panted, looking at my bed to see it empty. She was gone for now and that allowed me to get ready for today's raid. Since floor 26, there's been two floor bosses and it's only getting worse. New creatures are beginning to appear throughout the new floors. The cursed weapons, Ultra Beasts, and Legendaries. Most of the top players don't have cursed weapons, but they are still stronger than most. I don't know what to do honestly. Even if I somehow survive this game, how will I live knowing I lost my friends and brother because I was weak?

Matskitana whispered, "You always will have me to talk to."

I shook my head, "I will never speak to you. Once this game is beat, you'll be nothing but a memory."

She gently laughed, "Oh really? You need to use my power Zach."

I punched the way, "Damn it, I don't need your power!"

She appeared in front of me, smiling, "Yes you do, I can teach you everything you need to know about cursed weapons."

I gave her a searching look, "You can?"

She grinned, revealing a sharp tooth, "Interested?"

I looked away, "No. I'm not interested, you're a monster."

Matskitana laid her head on my upper stomach, "Don't be so mad, I can help you."

I took a step back, "I don't need a demon's help."

She grinned, "You will one day Zach. I spared you, I chose you. You better be grateful."

As she disappeared, I gave a distasteful snort, "Spared me? You murdered everything I cared about."

She giggled, "Now I'm the only one you can care about."

I closed my eyes, "Stop talking to me Matskitana."

Matskitana snickered, "As you wish master."

I shook my head, leaving my inn room to meet with the members of my new guild. I didn't join them yet, I just said I'd accompany them into battle as a mercenary. Floor 32's first floor boss has been found and we're going in first. I knew I was probably going to die but... that didn't matter to me.

I was greeted by their leader Jay, "Welcome to the group bro."

I shrugged, "Whatever."

Another guy, named Anthony, Added in, "Please don't be mad at us, we're paying you."

I frowned, "I'm not mad at you guys. I just had a bad morning."

The third guy, Derek, said, "Did you dream of Jay's future child or something?"

Jay flared up, "My child will not suck!"

Derek smirked, "I highly doubt that Jay."

Jay growled in frustration, "Stop being an asshole!"

I decided to cut in, "When will we get going?"

Anthony started pushing them, "Right now actually."

The four of us left the inn to teleported to floor 32. Much to my surprise, floor 32 is actually really nice. It's already famous for having the nicest lakes and homes to own. These houses and land can be bought but they're extremely expensive. I think one is about 1.5 billion gold but it's permanently yours. You can ever customize the land however you want. In my lifetime of this game, I've only made about 1.7 million gold. I'll never be able to afford it. Late game players will definitely buy them one day. The walk to the cave was pretty dull until I asked them a question.

I asked, "Have you guys known any top players."

I noticed they all flinched and Jay answered me, "We knew Rui. He was our best friend."

I raised a brow, "Rui?"

Anthony clarified it for me, "He was a player known as Murloc_Rampage. For manyweeks he was one of the top 100 players."

I stopped walking, "He saved my life once."

Derek looked back at me, "That sounds like Rui. Deep down, he's a really good guy."

I ran to catch up, "Where is he?"

Jay frowned, "Dead..."

If my hair could bristle, it would right there, "Dead? How?"

Anthony shrugged, "We don't know. One day we woke up and deceased was next to his name."

I looked down, 'One of the top players just died like that? Can we even beat this game?'

{Third Person Point of View }

-Floor 25-

Silvia stood in front of her village's glyph, wondering what to do. She hasn't been able to figure anything out about her beloved Rui. She's searched every floor she could for a month, and found nothing.

She sighed sadly, "Oh Rui... where are you?"

Then a man she never wanted to meet appeared behind her, the head programmer himself, "Hello Silvia."

Silvia flinched, unable to turn towards him out of sheer disbelief, "M-master?"

He walked past her, touching the glyph, "My my, I've made some incredible things in this world, haven't I?"

Silvia looked down, "Of course sir."

He glanced at her with one eye, "So, how have you been enjoying the human world?"

Silvia flinched, "It's been... okay."

He grinned at her, "What about your beloved?"

Silvia looked aside, "I... well... I know he's alive."

Takata Haruchi never stopped grinning, "Silvia, I'm surprised at you, even with that evil personality I gave you, you still have a heart."

Silvia's eyes widened, "But... I... well... you see..."

Takata turned to her, "I need you to stay evil, but you had to just threaten your nonexistence like that."

Silvia shivered, "W-wait! I am still evil, let me prove it! I'll go kill Rui right now! Better yet, I'll kill his friends first!"

Takata grabbed Silvia by her throat, "I'm sorry, I can't hear you right now."

Silvia gripped his wrists, choking, "No... please don't kill me."

Takata laughed, "I'm sorry Silvia, but it's time I changed you into a real demon. Bye bye."

Silvia began to turn into a black mist, "Nooooo!"

Takata chuckled, "What an idiot, if she hadn't changed, she'd be a wonderful pawn. Now then, let's see how Dark is doing."

Takata disappears from the area without a trace.

(As always, please favorite, follow and review to support the story. ^_^)


	11. Chapter 10

Ch. 10 He Returns

{Zachary's Point of View}

The four of us finally reached the cave, only to find out it's actually the inside of a giant tree. Wood vines coiled along the walls to make a more ovalish shape. Grass pokemon watched us, sometimes attacking us from afar. We were able to handle it pretty well, but then I started to feel like our luck was running out. Then, Matskitana walked beside me, smiling evilly as she looked ahead.

She whispered to me, "You're going to need my help soon. A demon is ahead."

I flinched, looking at her, "A demon?"

Jay gave me a weird look, "Demon? What are you talking about?"

I blushed from embarrassment, "Oh, nothing. Sorry."

Jay wasn't convinced but he looked ahead, "Alright."

Matskitana giggled, "Be careful, you don't want them to think you're insane. Then again... I guess you sorta are because of me."

I bit my lip, 'Shut the hell up.'

Matskitana shrugged, "Whatever you say Master."

I looked past Jay, spotting someone far off. It looked like a player guarding the door to the boss. He leaned his back against the wall, his head looking down as his hoodie blocked our view of his face. He stood at 5 foot 2 wearing a grey sweater and shorts with grey sneakers. Only a sword was strapped to his hip as he waited. When we got close enough, he raised his head revealing a black bandana covering the bottom half of his face.

Jay greeted him, "Yo. Mind if we go in?"

The guy stood up, gripping the hilt of his sword, "No."

Derek flinched, "That voice sounded familiar."

The guy looked down, pulling out his sword. All four of us got ready as he stood there, weapon in hand. None of us moved for a couple minutes, waiting for the other to strike first.

The guy twirled his sword before slashing it aside, in a blink he appeared behind me. I turned to face him, raising my shield to block an attack that never came. He tilted his head before pointing up. I looked up to see another of him, then another behind Derek, and the final one where he originally was standing.

The four of us went back to back, "We're surrounded. I've never heard of an ability like this."

Derek looked at Jay, "You barely remember how to take a shower, let alone the thousands of skills within this game."

Jay laughed, "Yeah... you're a dick."

Matskitana appeared in front of me, crossing her arms, "It's time for you to use me Zach."

I shook my head, "I can't."

Anthony looked at me, "You can't what?"

Matskitana smirked, "Trust me, once you've used my power, you'll always want to access it. You can't beat this demon without my power."

I held my shield tightly, "It's just one enemy."

Jay agreed, "Yeah but which one is the real one."

Matskitana got in my face, "You need me. Use me. Let me taste your blood. A shield will do nothing here and if you die, you'll be dead forever."

I swallowed hard, 'That doesn't matter to me.'

Matskitana smirked, "So you say, but you're holding that shield pretty tightly. You want to live and I can give you power."

I didn't have time to answer her as our formation was attacked by the four. All four were real, able to attack and defend. The one I blocked swung at me relentlessly, making me use all my strength to hold him back.

He whispered, "Guard Break."

Suddenly, my shield was thrown aside, leaving me wide open for his attack. I could have moved, but I was too shocked to do so. He didn't pause, slashing an X across my chest and exploding it.

He swiped his sword, "X-Scissor v.2. Fight me newbie."

My health was dropped to 76% With my regeneration negated. I stood up, reequipping my shield before being attacked from behind.

He grabbed my hair, "You're too slow."

He picked me up by my hair and started slamming me back and forth on the floor. Without mercy, he then stabbed me through my back and kicked me off. I laid on the floor submissively still as my health dropped to 25%.

Matskitana whispered in my ear, "At this rate you'll die."

I looked up to see her knelt in front of me, "That's none of your business."

Matskitana smiled, "Use me Zach. It's the only way you'll save your new friends."

My eyes widened when she used that word, "No..."

I remembered being helpless as my friends were murder. I couldn't let that happen again.

Matskitana giggled, "Use me Zach. Use my demon powers."

I started getting up, feeling the skin along my left shoulder and left cheek. Red tattoos began to appear there, making my skin red with no real patern aside from a crescent moon. The cursed ax formed out of a black haze around my hand. That guy tried to attack me but I blocked it with the ax.

He grunted, "That's different."

This time I over powered him, "Show him your strength, go! Matskitana!"

With a horizontal swipe, I released a deadly wave of energy that sliced the guy in half. It was just a copy and fazed out of existence. I turned to see my allies doing their best to fight this attacker off. I ran over to assist them with my weapon.

Anthony grunted, "Too... strong..."

Anthony had a hard time fighting since he only used a bow. That guy pushed down with his sword, making Anthony bow. I was able to save Anthony, making the copy retreat a few steps.

I stood in front of Anthony, "I'll keep you safe, focus on shooting him."

Anthony nodded quickly, "Okay."

The guy stared at me, swiping his sword aside before charging. I blocked his attack, sweeping his legs before trying to cut him in half. He backrolled quickly and pushed forward the moment his feet hit the ground. I looked at him, watching as Anthony sniped him with three arrows to destroy the copy.

I gave Anthony a thumbs up, "Good job."

Anthony nodded his appreciation before helping the other two with covering fire. I went to join Jay but the two copies retreated to the door before merging.

The guy put his sword away, pointing at us, "You're good! But I, am better."

Jay clenched his teeth, "This guy, is he being serious?"

Matskitana said to me, "He's going to be a lot tougher."

I asked her, 'How do you know?'

Matskitana giggled, "He's about to open his demon abilities."

I watched as he pulled out a potion, making me gasp, "Wait... I know that potion."

He pulled down his bandana, revealing himself to be Rui. All four of us were shocked to see him trying to stop us. He drank the potion without hesitation, tossing aside the empty glass container.

Jay looked heart broken, "Rui... what..? I thought you were dead."

Rui grinned, pulling his hood off, "I guess there's no point in concealing it any further."

Jay got closer to him, pleading, "Rui, stop this. You're our friend."

Rui grinned, "That's why we have to fight."

Jay flinched "What?"

Rui gave him a playful smile, pointing at us, "I couldn't possibly let you dumbasses be better than me, right?"

Jay stood straight, suddenly chuckling, "You... you bastard, this was all a test... right?"

Rui looked aside, his hands on his hips, "Maybe..."

Derek ran forward, "It's got to be him."

Anthony followed suit, "Rui!"

Rui put his hands up, "Whoa, guys I'm not- urk!"

The three of them dog piled on Rui, all laughing and crying that their friend is alive. Rui pushed them off with his strength, but they just kept jumping back on. I ended up laughing a little, feeling a bit of happiness for them until Matskitana appeared.

She said, "He suppressed the demon."

I asked, "How?"

Matskitana frowned, "I don't know."

I decided to ask, "How strong is he?"

Matskitana looked up at me, "Stronger than us, much stronger."

I allowed my ax to disappear into the black haze, "Alright." I approached them, "Hey Murloc."

Rui looked at me, "You look familiar."

I told him, "You once saved me from a monster in a cave."

Rui thought to himself, "Hm... I don't remember. Everything has been a bit foggy lately."

I clenched my fist, "Where have you been all this time? Why were you pronounced dead!? So many players lost hope because of it."

Rui looked down, "I can't tell you..."

I got mad, "Then what the hell is all this! Sweater, bandana, where the hell did you get this clothing?"

Rui got up, "Do not question me, you're the one with a demon."

I flinched, "What?"

Rui narrowed his eyes, "I can see her, it's a holy knight trait."

I got in his face, "Oh yeah? Then what about your demon?"

Rui didn't falter, meeting my challenge, "I have no demon."

I poked his chest aggressively, "Matskitana said you have a demon and was possessed by it."

Rui grabbed my shirt, "You listen to me, I have no demon controlling me."

I saw the determination in his eyes, I got him, "You're going to sacrifice everything just for a chance at freedom, aren't you?"

Rui stopped gripping my shirt, "I was ready to sacrifice everything from the start."

I placed a hand on his shoulder, "Tell us the truth, lying to your friends is always wrong."

Rui flinched at that, looking down, "..."

Jay pat his back, "Rui?"

Rui glanced at him, "I... I joined a secret covenant..."

Derek asked, "What covenant?"

Rui unequipped his sweater and bandana, "It doesn't matter now. I'm quitting it. I'm level 71 now, so I'm already a top 10 player."

Anthony asked, "Are you sure it'll just let you quit?"

Rui shrugged, "I don't know, maybe?"

Jay hugged him, "I'm just happy you're back man."

Rui pushed him, "Fuck off Jay, you're just happy to be a lazy ass again."

I was going to say something until I saw the teasing glint in Rui's eye, Jay replied, "Not all of us can be you man."

Rui bumped fists with him, "It's good to see you guys again, level 60's huh? You guys have been quite busy."

Derek wrapped an arm around Anthony, "It's all thanks to this guy, this little sniper gives us a small exp bonus."

Anthony blushed, "It's only 7%..."

Derek put him in a headlock, "Don't try to discredit yourself!"

Anthony yelled, "Okay, okay! I'm sorry."

Derek let go, laughing, "Good. Jay has been pretty useless."

Rui raised a brow, "Has been?"

Jay flared up, "I've been useful from the start!"

Rui grinned, "May I remind you of the first 2 minutes you played this game?"

Jay crossed his arms pouting, "I'll still stand by what I said that day, it was a pig from hell."

Rui grinned, "Well, 69 guy, I killed that pig from hell while you held your nuts in pain."

I cut in, "Guys, we have a boss to beat."

Rui shrugged, "It's not a big deal."

I flinched, "Not a big deal? It has to be level 70."

Rui shrugged, "I can solo it no problem. Watch and learn."

{Rui's Point of View}

I pulled out my sword, walking towards the door, 'I can't let them get what I need...'

I pushed the door open, revealing a very dark room lit by blue flamelit candles. I suspected Candelure was the boss at first, but then I noticed a sword in the middle of the room. It was an all black sword with a green edge, kind of like Zach's ax. To make it worse, it was stabbed into the ground with a glowing pentagram around it.

I looked at it, stopping everyone from coming in, "Your ax..."

Zach looked at me, "Yes?"

I asked him, "Where did you find it?"

Zach answered quickly, "Me and my friends found it in a room. It was placed in the... middle... of... a... oh shit..."

I looked at the sword, seeing it's a one hand sword style, "What do you do?"

A female voice answered me, "You don't know, human? Despite having a demon yourself?"

I said, "I don't have one."

I looked to see Zach's demon walking around the outside of the pentagram, "You cannot lie to me, I know you've been influenced by a demon."

I focused on the sword, thinking, 'She must mean Dark. He did give me some of his power, but I don't have a demon... yet.' I asked her, "What happens if I touch that sword."

I heard Zach gasp, "You're not actually thinking of getting that cursed weapon!"

I walked towards it, "I am."

Zach pulled out his ax and tried to attack me, "No! I'm not letting someone else get possessed!"

I blocked his attack, kicking him away hard, "It's not your choice. If anything happens, I want you guys to-"

"Hiya!" a voice rang from above.

I jumped back just in time to dodge a Team Skull Girl's Chandelure, "Long time no see, jerk."

I looked at her, "I thought I told your group to stop meddling with front line players."

She brushed her hair aside, "You did... but I'll never forgive you for killing my friends and our leader!"

I snickered, "Your leader was a dumbass, I knew you'd come here. I was waiting for you. Come on out, all of you."

At least 27 Team Skull grunts came out of hiding, surrounding me with either pokemon users, channelers, or weapon users. I eyed all of them, smiling at the weak levels they possess. All of them are level 50 or lower.

Zach moved like he was going to help but Jay stopped him, "Rui's got this."

I cracked my neck, "I'm excited for this. It's time to teach all of you what a real player can do. No... what I can do. I know my friends are here, but I'll happily show them what my covenant does. Especially since you presented such a glorious opportunity for me."

I heard everyone gasp as my sweater and bandana reappeared with a wave of energy being released. The Chandelure was the first to go, having its head split in half before it's channeler could call a command. She looked at me in shock before having her face grabbed by my left hand.

I said, "Tell your friends I said hi. Soul Steal!"

Her entire body encased in white as she screamed in pain. Her hp dropped to 0 instantly as her soul was absorbed into my sweater. I then pulled out a glass potion container and spat her soul into it through my bandana.

A male grunt asked, "What did you do!?"

I shook the glass potion, showing her soul begging for help, "I captured your friend's soul, now who's next?"

Three of them attacked with Bullet Seed, Flame Thrower, and Bubblebeam. I twirled my sword, blocking all three as I walked towards them. Two grunts attacked from behind, trying to cut my head off. Instead, I disappeared and reappeared behind them. I grabbed both of them by the back of their necks. Without uttering a word, I crushed their necks, killing them just as quickly as the girl.

I grinned at them, my bandana's red teeth reflecting my grin, "Please, try to make this fun."

More of the grunts attacked, only this time, I wasn't showing mercy. I used my Shadow Sneak to kill seven of them before their pokemon could fight. Three of the Spiritualist players tried to put up a fight but their spirit pokemon were too weak. For fun, I threw three of them into the air and had them all land on my sword, making a stack. They quickly shattered, letting me continue on my killing spree.

I heard Dark's voice, "Yes, kill them. Free their souls."

I snapped another one's neck, laughing hysterically, "Is this what ecstasy is!? I love it!"

Dark whispered more, "Keep going, I have so many more memories to give you. So many to remind you of a family you never had in this world."

The last skull grunt shivered at the far right of the room, "No... please don't kill me yo."

I walked towards him, "You're the last soul, it'll be painful. Like having your skeleton ripped through your skin."

That's when Anthony got in front of me, "Stop it Rui!"

I stared at Anthony, "Why are you stopping me?"

Anthony shivered, "You're not being yourself!"

I tilted my head to the left a bit, "I've always been like this Anthony, why do you think I went on my own?"

Anthony kept standing between me and my target, "You did it to keep your friends safe, not to become a murderer!"

I got dark, "There's no real proof that I'm killing them in real life."

Anthony glared at me, "So you're going to be just like Reaper!"

I gasped, backing away, "No..."

Anthony continued, "Reaper murdered your friend and any player he wanted, just for fun! Just like what you're doing right now!"

I shivered, 'He's right...'

Dark yelled in my ear, "Don't listen to him, he's wrong. You're doing the right thing."

I gripped my head, "No... I'm not! I'm not a murderer! I'm nothing like Reaper!"

Anthony grabbed me, "Didn't you cry because your allies were murdered in front of you!?"

I stared into his eyes in shock, "I..."

Anthony began crying, "What happened to my friend!? You were always such a good person, so kind and fun... where did he go!"

Dark whispered, "Kill him."

I clenched my sword, "No... I'm not evil... I'm not evil!

Anthony let go, backing away, "You're one of my best friends Rui, you can't be evil."

I grabbed my head, "No more... I don't want to follow you anymore Dark!"

Dark whispered, "You are a follower forever Rui."

I shook my head, "No, I follow no one!"

Dark whispered more, "It's too late for you. Don't you want to see your family? Your friends in that universe?"

I dropped my weapon, "No. I have friends and family in this universe. Goodbye Dark."

I pushed him out of my mind, dispersing his sweater and bandana before collapsing. When I came to, my friends were looking at me worriedly.

Jay asked, "Are you okay?"

I sat up, "Bad headache but I feel better."

Derek asked, "What happened?"

I looked down, "I wasn't myself."

Derek rolled his eyes, "Obviously, but what exactly happened?"

I began explaining everything, "Months ago, I was captured by a Gardevoir named Silvia. Eventually, I escaped and was teleported to a place outsude the games 100 floors. An area holding the very reason this game even exists in the first place. I being known as Dark was found inside a some sort of datachip. The head programmer used his power to create this entire game, as well as, have complete control over it. Dark manipulated me through memories I have in another universe. Happy memories that... I don't have here, but got me addicted to the feelings of happiness. Dark gave me his power, telling me to gather the rest of his things, a sword and sweatpants I think."

Dark's voice rang in the room, "That's enough, Rui."

All of us turned to see him, fear rising in me, "Dark!?"

He stood there, wearing his sweater and bandana, "I'm taking my clothes back from you."

I got up, "How are you here!?"

Dark smiled, "I was always here."

I pulled out my sword, "I'll kill you!"

Dark put his hand up, "Don't bother trying, I'm an immortal object inside this game."

I glared at him, "Why are you here?"

Dark looked aside gingerly, "You're much too different in this universe to house me like you did before. I need someone with hate, more hate than you had for Reaper. The other you despised the world Rui, in fact your existence nearly destroyed it but my nobody, Darx, failed in securing that."

Jay asked, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Dark sighed, "I'm rambling. It looks like the plan will take a much longer time frame than anticipated. That Takata is such a slowpoke."

I screamed, "What are you two planning!? Why are we trapped here!?"

Dark snickered, "You'll learn once you reach floor 100. I'll see you then, bye."

I ran over to attack him but he disappeared into his black mist, leaving us there. I fell to my knees, punching the floor in anger... then... the cursed sword got into my vision... and I wanted it.


	12. Chapter 11

Ch. 11 Cursed Weapon

{Third Person Point of View}

-Floor 67-

(Moments after the end of the last chapter)

Takata is seen on top of a Snow Covered Mountain, overlooking the floor. Dark appeared behind him, aggressively walking towards him angrily.

Takata chuckled, "What's the matter Dark?"

Takata turned to face him, getting a sharp punch to his right cheek, "You bastard!"

Takata fell back, holding his cheek, "Ow... is that anyway to greet a friend?"

Dark screamed, "Where are they!?"

Takata tilted his head, "Where are what?"

Dark stomped his foot like an angry child, "My Zweihander and my sweatpants!"

Takata laughed, "Is that why you have no pants on?"

Dark flared up, his eyes getting darker, "You will tell me where they are."

Takata shrugged, "I don't know where they are anymore, I'm sorry."

Dark flinched, "What? You said they were on the early floors! That way I could use Rui to get them and escape this place!"

Takata raised a finger, "Ah hah hah. You didn't follow through on our deal."

Dark looked away angrily, "Tsk, You don't need my help with the life energy project. You're already able to bring the pokemon to the human world using it."

Takata laughed, "You don't even understand how it works."

Dark glared at him, "You're nothing more than a disgusting pervert trying to make a lopunny real to fuck!"

Takata looked aside gingerly, smirking, "True... at first. I only wanted one to be real, one to call mine... but now... my following wants more than that."

Dark stared him down with a deathly serious glare, "You do not understand the danger you put your world in, human."

Takata shrugged, "I know enough that 10000 pokemon are already in a secret underground basement. You wouldn't believe the amount of humans that want real pokemon."

Dark looked at the cloudy sky, "They don't understand... the cost is... far too great."

Takata laughed, "We're not making Legendary pokemon, only normal pokemon we can control."

Dark sighed, his eyes turning red like a demon, "For now, but how long until you crave to subjugate a legendary?"

Takata laughed, "We're not that foolish, we're not like the humans in your world. The ones that work for me... they only want a world where humans can be with pokemon peaceful. No wars, no hate, only love. My perfect world."

Dark shook his head, "Humans... are such greedy disgusting creatures. What about the ones that don't want pokemon in their world?"

Takata smiled, "We'll kill them of course. We don't need unnecessary hate in our world."

Dark looked down, "It's times like these I'm happy to be a demon rather than a selfish human."

Takata smiled at him, "You were human at one point, were you not?"

Dark spat, "I discarded that part of me the moment I could. I don't want to be the same species as a bunch of selfish, self-centered, judgemental, arrogant, god preaching hypocrites."

Takata smirked, "Whatever you say Dark, say... if you don't mind me asking... what was your real name?"

Dark flinched before looking down, "I don't remember..."

Takata sighed, "That's unfortunate, I was hoping to learn more about you."

Dark began to disappear, "Don't bother trying, what I am, is beyond your reach."

When Dark disappeared, Takata looked towards the scenery again, laughing, "If only you knew Dark... if only you knew my cursed weapon. Hehahahahaha!"

A black haze appeared around him, a female voice rang throughout the area, "I'm a very special cursed gear. Only my master can see and hear me, of course he wouldn't know."

Takata laughed, "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have been able to make the cursed weapons."

The haze began to disappear, "True, but your brilliance made it possible, that is why they will never find you, my master."

Takata smirked, "Especially with a demon like you, Myatsoo."

-Floor 32-

{Rui's Point of View}

I stood where Dark used to be, looking at the cursed weapon in the center of the room. Zach noticed and stood between me and it. I swiped my sword aside, hanging my head.

I gave him a warning, "I'm getting that sword, no one is stopping me."

Zach clicked his tongue, "Tsk, I'll do my best to stop you."

I noticed the tattoos grew but I didn't care, "My elixer is active... One blow..."

Zach held up his ax defensive but I moved at a speed he's never seen before. I was behind him, my hand ready as I smacked the back of his neck, knocking him out. Zach's hp went down by only 5%, but that made me smile. I wasn't trying to kill him after all, I just wanted him out of my way.

I picked him up, "Jay!"

Jay was surprised, "Uh, yeah?"

I tossed him over to Jay, "If anything bad happens, get out of here."

Anthony and Jay caught Zach, "Wait, you're not seriously considering this."

I put my sword away, "I need to get stronger... stronger than this... I only have 2 elixer left."

Derek yelled, "Can't you just buy more?"

I frowned, "I had to make them using special items. I can't get them anymore."

Derek said, "What if you lose your mind because of this?"

I smiled at him, "I'm always losing my mind. Thanks for being my best friends."

I grabbed the sword, hearing Jay yell, "No!"

I blinked, finding myself in my bed on the first floor. I stared at the ceiling, wondering what was going on. I sat up, looking around and seeing it was just like that old room. I got out of my bed and looked out the window to see players and NPC's walking on the streets. My door opened, revealing Carly who smiled happily at me.

"Rui! How did you sleep?"

I flinched, "C-Carly? You're alive!"

Carly smiled at me, "Of course not."

I flinched, "What?"

I blinked again, holding Carly's dying body, "You couldn't save me."

I felt like my heart was being ripped in half, "C... Carly..."

Carly was crying, "You didn't try to save us."

I flinched, "Yes I did!"

Carly shook her head, "You were too busy sleeping."

I yelled, "Reaper was too powerful!"

Carly smiled evilly, "Is that what you tell yourself?"

I gasped, "Huh?"

Carly laughed, "You could have been stronger but you weren't, you were lazy!"

I shook my head, "No... I trained every day."

Carly had tears develop, "You couldn't protect the first person you loved."

I wiped my eyes, "It's not my fault!"

Carly started to fade, "You didn't try hard enough..."

When Carly's hp hit zero, she didn't shatter. It was like I was being mocked with her dead body. I stared at it, panic rising exactly like that day.

I shook her, "No! You can't be dead! You can't be!"

As I yelled, she shoved her hand in my mouth, "Oh? So much guilt is in you."

I gasped in shock as a black haze began to come from her, 'She's the demon.'

When I blinked, I found myself in the forest where I watched Silvia murder someone I knew. Seeing her suck his blood again made me feel the same fear I had that day.

Carly stood beside me, "You just watched, thankfully it wasn't you."

I shook my head, closing my eyes, "No... I wanted to save him but..."

Carly's voice was warped, "You weren't strong enough!?"

I looked at Carly to see Silvia instead, she grabbed me by my throat. I was too shocked to react, feeling her pick me up with an evil look.

Silvia said, "You abandoned everyone."

I felt a tear develop, "No..."

Silvia smirked, the black haze forming around us, "You abadoned everyone, just to survive. You're such a selfish human."

I hung there, unable to do anything, "I'm not selfish..."

Silvia leaned in to my ear, "You're so selfish, you'd do anything to survive, even become my pet."

I shook my head, "No. I'm no one's pet!"

I pushed Silvia away, but she just laughed, "You can't fight me now."

I hung my head, "No... there is no need to fight you. I want your power."

Silvia tilted her head, smiling, "Oooooh? I'm feeling a strong sense of desire within you. I like that but..."

Carly walked past me, "We feel a lot of love too. We demons hate that Rui."

The guy Silvia drank the blood from walked past me as well, "We love lust."

Carly said, "But we hate love."

Silvia grinned, "Carly, Jay, friends, what a joke. You don't need them, I can give you all the power you need.

I shook my head, "No... I..."

Carly laughed, "Is it really fair, Rui? Fair for you to live, because you selfishly allowed others to die? Shouldn't you dedicate yourself to beating this game?"

I screamed, "I am dedicated to beating this game! That's why I want your power! Give me the power I need to protect my friends and get us out of this game!"

Everything disappeared in a flash, next I knew, I was standing in a room that seems to expand infinitely. A cloudy gray sky seemed to move everywhere you look. Then, that same black haze appeared with red eyes, towering over me.

It spoke, "Oh... such a powerful feeling of resolve, love, and lust all intertwined instantly."

I looked at it, 'What now?'

It moved side to side, "Fine, I like you. I knew you'd be able to pass and become my master Rui."

I was shocked at first, but then began to smile, "So... you'll become my demon."

The black haze moved towards me and stabbed me through my chest, "Yes, the contract is complete."

I gasped, choking blood, "Ack..."

It pulled back, dispersing the black haze revealing Silvia, "Whenever you need me, Rui, just call my name."

I stared at her in shock, "Slivia? Wait... you can't be the real her."

Silvia laughed, "I was murdered by Takata and forced to become your demon sword. I've been waiting for you ever since."

I couldn't believe it, "Why would he kill you?"

Silvia snickered, "I loved you, that was a problem. As a program, I was too easy to influence... but now... as a demon, I can understand. Humans are such... disgusting things. Even you... so selfish deep down."

I looked aside, "That's really mean to say."

Silvia smirked, hugging me suddenly, "I'm not the same person you once knew." She bit my neck, drinking my blood.

I shivered, unable to move, "What... what are you..?"

She pulled back, "Delicious, as your demon, I must drink your blood. That's all I care about, and, a warning, if I ever feel your desire weaken, I will take over your body."

I covered my neck, "I'll keep that in mind."

Silvia smiled, "With everything complete, I'll see you 'round Rui."

(Back in the game)

I woke up, staring at the ceiling with the sword in my right hand. I looked around to see Zach, Jay, Derek and Anthony standing over me.

Zach said, "Well I'll be damned, he did it."

Jay pat my shoulder, "Hey champ, how ya feeling?"

I sat up, looking at the sword, "I feel weird."

Matskitana appeared in front of me, "You almost didn't make it."

I was confused, "What do you mean?"

Matskitana laughed, "You were screaming, wailing your arms around. The cursed markings were covering most of your body. Any further and you'd have become a demon. You probably would have killed all of us too."

I looked at the sword, 'What I went through... was it really that intense? If so, why do I feel so calm?'

Zach got my attention, "What's your demon's name?"

I noticed a new sheathe was on my hip and put the sword away, "Her name is Silvia."

I heard Silvia whisper, "Don't try to get cute with me either."

I blushed, "I wouldn't dream of it."

Silvia snickered, "Oh, so you say, hee~ hee~ hee~"

I looked at everyone, "Well, I'm hungry as hell, who wants dinner?"

Everyone yelled, "Me!"

As we began to leave, I walked beside Zach, "Hey, I'm going to need your help."

Zach looked at me, "Why?"

I whispered, "I need to know more about the cursed weapons and... I think my friends should get some too."

Matskitana walked beside me, "They won't be able to handle it."

I asked, "Why?"

Matskitana said, "They're too happy, there's not enough negative emotion to attract the demon. We hate the happy feeling like love. We love desire, hate, anything negative really."

I frowned, "You might be right... but we'll never know if we don't try."

Matskitana laughed, "How selfish of you, deciding to let your friends die by being possessed."

I glared at her, "They won't die."

Zach agreed with her, "Maybe she's right, they could end up dying from this. Demon's have complete control over the possessed body."

Matskitana grinned, leaning forward to get a glimpse of Zach's face, "You would know that, wouldn't you, Zach?"

Zach turned his head, "Shut up, I'll never forgive you for what you've done."

Matskitana laughed, "Good, I don't want you to. Your hatred is my favorite part about you Zach. It's all you have left, isn't it."

Zach clenched his hands, "It depresses me to know you're the only thing left of my friends."

Matskitana disappeared, "Aw, I made you too angry, I'm sorry Zachy."

Zach shook his head, "Just shut up and go away."

I sighed, "I'm guessing they're not the nicest bunch."

Zach sneered, "Don't pretend you don't know how mean they are."

I nodded, "Yeah... That's about the long and short of it."

When we finally got something to each, a message was sent out that the first floor boss of 32 was beaten. Jay asked how before realizing that room was never a boss room to begin with. We called him an idiot, ganging up on him for being so stupid. It felt nice to be back with my friends.

(Real World)

{Cray's Point of View }

I sat beside Rui, wondering how mt little brother is doing inside the game. Then, out of the blue I noticed the heart mobiter begin to beep faster from his blood pressure lowering. Rui looked a bit paler and blood seemed to trickle from his neck. I started to panic, cleaning the blood to find a wound but there wasn't one.

I mumbled to myself, "What's going on?"

It's October now... Rui has been trapped in that game, with his friends, for over half a year now. Nintendo says they've gotten to the 32 floor but a third of the players have died now. Nintendo... has suggested adding in more players to try and help them beat the game, but that won't make the game faster. They'd have to train, work hard and get to the top of the players list in order to be of any help. What can I do...?

Two police officers entered the room, "Are you Cray Santos?"

I got up, nodding, "Yes, I am. Is there something I can help with?"

One of them pulled out handcuffs, "I'm sorry, but we must arrest you."

I couldn't believe him, "This is a joke, right?"

He shook his head, "This is no joke. We must arrest you in suspicion that you assisted in the disappearance of a coworker."

I placed my hands behind my back, "Disappearance of a coworker? Which coworker disappeared?"

The other took out a notepad, "Apparently, a girl named Gaia. I think she was your superior."

My parents walked into the room, shocked was an understatement when they saw the police. I thought my father was going to attack them but I shook my head no. He bit his tongue, placing his hands on my mother's shoulders.

He demanded to know, "Why are you taking away our son?"

The officer explained to him, "A few weeks ago, it was reported that Gaia, your son's coworker, has gone missing. Many employees say that Gaia and your son never saw eye to eye. We suspect that he may have had something to do with her disappearance."

My mother asked, "Did you have anything to do with it?"

I shook my head no, "I admit, I didn't like her because she was molesting my younger brother but I didn't make her disappear. I'm not a killer, all I want is my brother to come back from the game."

The police began to push me, "You can make your statementstay when we arrive at the station. Until then, you have the right to remain silent."

I sighed in defeat, "Alright. I'm sorry you two had to walk in on this."

My mother and father nodded, "We'll visit you soon."

When we got to the police cruiser, I was put in the backseat as is procedure. They took their time talking outsude the vehicle on a phone before getting in. The drive was longer than I expected... much too long. When I realized we were leaving the city, it was too late to do anything.

I asked, "Where are you taking me?"

The driver snickered, "Where we need to. Master Takata promised us a large amount of money for your capture."

I kicked the window, "So you're corrupted! Do you know the bounty that's on that man's head!?"

The passenger laughed, "If we captured him, we'd get nothing but a pat on our back. We'd be doing our job, and you know as well as me that this world runs on money. Two million for you alive? That's good enough for me to keep quiet."

I growled, "What about Gaia? Is she in on this too?"

The driver shook his head, "No. She's really gone missing."

I growled angrily, "Takata has to have done something about it!"

The passenger didn't care, "Just shut up back there."

I kicked the window a couple of time, the driver yelled, "Stop kicking the window, or I'm going to pull over and taze you!"

I stopped, my legs exhausted without even scratching the window. I sat back up, looking at the ocean we were passing while driving on a highway. The sun was setting behind the water, the orange sky turning to dark blue. I wondered if this was going to be my last sunset. Is today going to be the last day I spend alive on this earth?

Nightfall hit the moment we arrived, the corrupted officers forced me to walk into an alleyway, leading to a secret passage. A secret lab was station underground of this city, pretty large scale with many scientists and computer specialists working tirelessly. A test tube showed an abra, sleeping inside it as the water gave it nourishment. I could hardly believe my eyes... and then I saw the bastard himself, Takata.

He handed the corrupt officers the money, "Good job you two. I'll have more work for you soon."

I glared at him, "You bastard!"

I tried to attack him but one of the officers kneed me in the stomach before tazing me. When I laid submissively still, letting out shallow breaths, he stopped. I looked at Takata hatefully, seeing him smirk with a peculiar black tattoo on his neck.

I asked him, "Why did you bring me here?"

Takata laughed, "To be a part of my experiments."

I sat up, "How can you afford all this!? You were just a head programmer!"

Takata knelt down, chuckling, "Cray, I was always more than just a programmer. You wouldn't believe the amount of people in this world that would pay so much money for pokemon. I've been working on this for over 10 years."

I shook my head, "I can't believe you'd betray your people and consumers like this."

Takata laughed, "It's merely business, plus, I needed the players to make the final steps work. These pokemon needed life energy and souls to become real. How else would I get those two crucial assets?"

I flinched in surprise, "You're killing your players to make pokemon become real! What the fuck is wrong with you!?"

Takata punched me across my face, "Don't YOU judge me! I've ALWAYS wanted a pokemon as my wife! I grew up wanting that and got called a freak for it! I'll never forgive our kind for that. That's why I'm so willing to toss their lives away. Here and in that game, I am god!"

I shook my head, spitting blood, "You're no god! Only a freak trying to give the world a giant middle finger!"

Takata laughed, "Oh, so that's what you think of me. Well, aren't you quite an asshole Cray. I've been needing a test subject for fertility rates between human pokemon relations. How would you like to be subject 005?"

I screamed, "Go to hell you disgusting pokephile!"

He clapped his hands, laughing, "I'm glad you accept. Tie him up in chamber 18-X. Tomorrow he's going to mate with subject 713, a scyther."

Two men dressed in all white grabbed me, dragging me to my new cell. As they took me away, I began to cry, wondering how all of this ever started.


	13. Chapter 12

Ch.12 The meeting to discuss floor 32

(I hope you're all enjoying this so far. ^_^)

* * *

(Rui's Hospital Room)

{Third Person Point of View}

Rui's body laid on the soft white bed, the moonlight shone brightly on the right half of his body. A flower left in a small blue vase glistened innthe moonlight. Then, a dark shadow appeared over him, looking down at him. A head formed, revealing two sharp teeth as it inched towards his neck. Without any interuptions, the demon bit into Rui's neck, drinking his blood in the real world. As soon as he was bit, the demon pulled back. A bit of blood trickled from the two holes, but they quickly closed. Without uttering a single word, the dark shadow disappeared, allowing the paler Rui to heal.

* * *

{Rui's Point of View}

-October 13th, 2041-

[Status of the Game so far]

Top Player of the Chapter: UncleInTheAttic

Gender: Male

Age: 22 Years old

Level: 77

Class: Bow Specialist

Weapon: (Super Rare) Tri-Tipped Dragonite Bow

Skills: 39

Guild: Sharpshooters

Guild Leader: KeenEye107(Level 74)

Quests Completed: 1291

Players left in the Game: 1.71

Players that have died: 864,130

Floor Bosses Defeated: 40

Highest Floor Achieved: 32

I started today by telling everyone that I'm alive... that I'm ready to fight on the front lines again. TheImmortalEevee was ecstatic to hear that I was back. He demanded to know why I haven't been helping. I couldn't tell him the truth, so I half lied, saying I was a prisoner.

Currently, we were talking in a voice chat, I asked, "How is Gojiro?"

TheImmortalEevee sighed, "He's been missing."

I tilted my head, "Missing?"

TheImmortalEevee sighed, "He was last seen on the 25th floor three weeks ago. Since then, no one's heard anything from him. I know he's alive since the list says he is, but we have no idea where he is."

I asked, "Should I go look for him?"

TheImmortalEevee said, "No, he's not what's important for now. We have a boss raid today, remember?"

I shrugged, "Yeah... I guess... Scott... are you sure?"

TheImmortalEevee hesitated for a moment before saying, "Yes. You can look for him afterwards, we need you now."

I agreed, "Alright. How's everything been for you?"

TheImmortalEevee snickered, "I'm level 71 now with access to Flareon, Umbreon, and Leafeon."

I smiled, "That's cool. Think you'll get access to all of them eventually?"

TheImmortalEevee snickered, "Of course! I'm a pokemon spiritualist linked to eevee and its evolutions. Why couldn't I have access to all of them?"

I laughed, "Okay eevee lover, no need to get full of yourself."

TheImmortalEevee yelled, "Eevees are love! Eevees are Life!"

I raised a brow, "You take eevees way too seriously. It's time to stop Scott."

TheImmortalEevee laughed, "Yeah, they kind of run my life now. I'll see you at the raid, bye!"

I closed the chat, getting up only to feel Silvia poke my back, "Are you going to use me?"

I looked to see her sitting on my bed, "Of course."

Silvia grinned, "Good, I was getting bored of doing nothing."

I shook my head, "You do nothing all the time, so it's normal."

Silvia snickered, "You would say something as mean as that Rui."

I waved her off, not looking at her, "Yeah, yeah, I'm selfish, blah blah blah."

Silvia disappeared from my bed, leaving me alone. For a moment, I felt a strange type of loneliness, but ignored it. I have things to do in order to prepare for today's raid. Zach isn't going to be here since he's decided to look for the other cursed gear. Jay and the other two have decided to go train a bit more on floor 29. I checked my cursed sword for a moment before putting it inside its sheathe. With all my equipment in check, I head out of my inn room to meet at the rendezvous point.

* * *

-Floor 32(Cave of Origin)-

The Rendezvous point is outside the cave our target is in. Only the leaders, and lieutenants, were allowed to be here. I saw EeveeTheImmortal immediately since he ran over to me.

He grabbed my hand, pulling me to the others, "See!? I told you he was alive!"

Vulthurin sneered, "Well I'll be damned. He is alive."

I scratched the back of my neck nervously, "I thought you guys didn't want me to help you anymore since..."

JustinThePokemonMaster pat my back, "We forgive you Rui."

I pulled away, "I'm not the one that needs forgiveness, seeing as you guys murdered an entire NPC village."

Justin flinched before yelling, "It was for the greater good!"

I shook my head, "You murdered everyone."

Justin pushed me, "I know what I've done! We've all made sacrifices!"

I looked away, "I... Sigh... You're right... I'm sorry."

Justin pat my back, "Murloc, a third of the players have died already, if this keeps up, we'll all die by the time we reach floor 70. We need to work together, and sacrifice anything we have to, in order to get out of this game."

I bit my lip, looking aside, "I understand."

I heard Silvia whisper, "This is what I mean by selfish. So quick to sacrifice the lives of others to save yourself."

I shook my head, 'Just shut up Silvia. I don't need your stupid babbling.'

Silvia pouted, "Hmph! Fine!"

That strange sense of loneliness came back, making the room sway for a moment. Everyone seemed to notice, TheImmortalEevee catching me when I fell back.

TheImmortalEevee asked, "Are you okay?"

Everything went back to normal as I said, "Yeah, I'll be fine."

Justin looked me over, "Hm... Say... What do you think we'll face this time?"

Vulthurin said, "It doesn't matter. We'll kill it in the name of Giratina."

I looked at Vulthurin, "Still a bit of a savage, eh, Vulthurin?"

Vulthurin shrugged, "I merely follow the character I present myself in."

I rolled my eyes, "Uh huh, that totally doesn't mean you present yourself as a religious ass wipe."

Vulthurin sneered, "I'm ready to spray holy blood all around when you want to fight Murloc. Any time, any place."

I looked away, "I'm not fighting you when we have more to worry about."

Vulthurin raised his brows, "That's interesting, usually you're overly confident and meet my challenge."

I shrugged, "I'm trying not to be a jerk..."

Vulthurin snickered, "It's pretty sad when you have to 'try' not being a jerk."

Everyone laughed, causing me to flare up, "Oh shut up! You're all a bunch of jerks!"

Justin clapped his hands, "Now, unto business. We must talk of our strategy. We can't send in the weaker players first anymore. Not enough players have the experience required to fight in the front lines. Therefore, we must go in first. Our remaining forces will wait outside the room for our signal. Since floor 24, the final boss refuses to show up until half of its minions are defeated. With our skill, we'll easily be able to defeat the minions. Especially since we now have the support of MiphaGrace from the Healer Guild. Her channelers will be able to heal our weaker players when the full battle starts."

I tilted my head, "Who's Mipha?"

Justin looked around, "She's a good healer, was top player for a while months ago. I can't seem to..."

I heard a hesitant voice behind me, "I'm Mipha."

I looked behind me to see a 11 year old girl standing with a pure black Trident. She has long light pink hair that extends past her hips. She's only 4 foot 3 with light green eyes and paler skin than mine. Little red hearts were on her cheeks with a gold necklace around her neck. A heart pendant hung off the golden necklace. She wore a pink blouse with baby blue shorts. For armor, she wore a white channeler dress, it's like a priest's gown, with hearts on the back of her wrists. If anything, she looked like a princess... with a trident... hahahahahahaha!

I snickered, but regained my composure, "Hello, I'm Murloc_Rampage."

Without hesitation, she stabbed me through my chest with the trident, saying, "Do not take me lightly."

I stood there frozen, "Uh... Ouch?"

She pulled the trident out before laughing, "Hahahaha! Just kidding!"

I flinched, "You stabbed me through my chest!"

She grinned, "Yeah, didn't you notice your health was unaffected?"

I blinked, "Huh?" I looked at my hp to see she was right, "How's that possible?"

She rubbed her trident, "My trident can heal and inflict damage, while I stabbed you, my healing ability was able to stop you from taking damage in general."

I looked into her eyes, seeing sparkles of hope, "Hm... I see..."

She tilted her head cutely, "What is it?"

I gently pat her head, "You haven't seen a friend die yet."

She flinched, freezing with a gasp, "Ah..."

I smiled, "I'm very happy... that there's at least one person in this game that hasn't seen that..."

She looked down, "I was alone when I first played this game... then I made some very close friends. Together we made my covenant, and stayed away from the front lines."

I stood straight, "Don't worry, if your healing is as good as I think it is, we won't lose nearly as many players. I believe in you."

She looked up at me in surprise, "You do?"

I smiled kindly, petting her head, "Of course, how can we ever make it out of this game if we don't believe in each other?"

Mipha blushed, letting me pet her until Vulthurin laughed, "Who knew Murloc can be inspirational when he wants to be?"

TheImmortalEevee smiled at me, "Rui's really strong willed when it counts, it's why his friends have such high hopes for him."

I looked aside, blushing, "You guys make it sound like I'm a self centered freak."

TheImmortalEevee laughed, "How's that?"

Vulthurin added in his two cents, "It's because you're a moron."

TheImmortalEevee flinched, hanging his head, "What did you say?"

Vulthurin looked at him, confused, "Hm?"

TheImmortalEevee polished his sword, looking as intimidating as possible, "Would you like to tell my weapon what you said Vulthurin?"

Vulthurin began to sweat a bit, "Uh... Nevermind. I'll take back what I said."

TheImmortalEevee had a dark look with a grin stretching across his face, he pets an eevee, "What exactly did you say Vulthurin?"

Vulthurin looked aside, "No need to be so angry. I took back what I said..."

I pat TheImmortalEevee's back, "Scott, there's no need to go all anime on him."

Justin clapped to get our attention again, "Alright, back to the strategy, as I was explaining before, Mipha's healers will keep our allies from dying. Once the boss is out, We'll attack it together and keep it from fighting the low leveled players. If it's too strong... then... we'll have to accept casualties."

I said, "Only if it's too strong right?"

Justin nodded, "Yeah, I'm not sacrificing anyone."

I gripped my sword, "Then I'll do everything I can to ensure that." I looked at my sword, 'Especially since I have your power Silvia.'

Justin smiled, "You're a great swordsman, you can fight anything. Remember floor 7 when everyone was unable to fight, except for you."

I looked down, "That was different... I didn't take as much damage because I... Um..."

Justin smiled, "It's because you were too good to lose."

I looked down, "I don't think I'm that good anymore..."

Justin smacked the back of my head, "Dummy! What makes you think that!? Sure the enemies are stronger, but so are you!"

I rubbed the back of my head, "Ow, you didn't have to hit me."

Justin sighed, "We'll do the raid in an hour, please be here at that time with your players."

Everyone nodded, pulling out teleportation crystals to return to their guild buildings. I pulled out my own crystal, but Justin grabbed my shoulder.

He gave me a determined look, "Wait, I need to ask you a favor."

This was quite sudden, "What is it?"

Justin looked at the cave, "Do you think you can solo it?"

I laughed, thinking this was a joke, "Are you serious, what kind of player do you think I am?"

Justin was very serious, "Murloc, I need your honest answer."

I looked down, "Oh... well... I don't know honestly."

Justin sat down, "I'll be honest with you... we're losing a lot more players."

I looked aside, "A third have died... right?"

Justin nodded, "Yes... and the ones that remain don't have faith in us."

I looked at him, "Are... you asking me to inspire them by beating the boss alone?"

Justin nodded, "I know it's alot to ask for but-"

I cut him off, "I'll do it."

Justin flinched, "You will?"

I turned towards the cave, "I'm... responsible for everyone losing hope. If I never disappeared... so many people would still be alive. If this is the only way I can repent, then I'll do it."

Justin looked sad, "What if you die?"

I smiled at him, "I won't die. I'm the undying Swordsman afterall."

Justin shook his head, smirking, "You were called the black swordsman you dumbass. You wanted that name to piss everyone off since you were white."

I laughed nervously, "Heeyyyyy, I was not trying to make a racist joke, that's all you man."

Justin laughed, "You're such a liar."

I took a deep breath, "So I have an hour to kill everything in there... Well... I might as well test out my new abilities."

Justin got up, "I'll stand outside the boss room and watch. If anything happens, I'll save you."

I gave him a thumbs up, "Thanks, I'm ready to do this."

* * *

(This is for all the old readers that loved the original my unwanted life. It makes me happy knowing that some of you guys have still stuck around since the beginning.)

* * *

-Floor 0-

{Third Person Point of View}

Dark is sitting in his own personal floor, wearing his sweater and bandana. He wondered where the rest of his items laid, unable to sense them. Without them, he's trapped inside the game... then again... he's always been trapped...

Dark hugs his legs, thinking about what he really wants, 'I want to get out of here... I want to be free... but why do I crave such freedom?'

Unlike the other versions of him, he feels no real urge to kill. Yes, he needs to feed off hatred... but he often wonders why? Is he truly different here? Is his life purpose truly more than it appeared to be in the past?

Dark remembers the old Rui, "He was so... hard to describe. On the outside, he acted... hell... I don't even know how to say it."

* * *

(Memory)

Dark and Rui were inside his stone sanctuary, arguing over what they should do, "Don't you understand! Mary is going to kill all of us if we don't run away!"

Rui turned his back to me, "I'm not leaving my family behind."

Dark yelled, "They're just going to drag you down! They're just pokemon, it's not like they matter."

Rui never looked back, "It's not just Silvia and Alivia that matters to me, it's everyone. Jay, Derek, Anthony, even you. You're all important to me. I can't abandon any of you."

Dark gasped, "What does it matter if you all die?"

Rui looked down, hiding his smile, "This world isn't perfect, in fact, I hate it... but... if we do everything we need to, I know we can change it for the better. Look at me and Silvia... I love her... even though she nearly destroyed my life. If we win, I can usher in a new age of peace and prosperity. A world where humans and pokemon can truly live together in harmony."

Dark looked aside, "Do you... really think you can do something like that? You're not exactly a role model."

Rui snickered, "True, I'm young, inexperienced, impatient, and I have a knack for getting on people's nervous, but, I still made friends, I still got a family, I still have dreams, plus I have you. I'm counting on you good bud. Peace."

Dark watched Rui go, wondering, 'What makes him have such a strong personality?'

Then the final battle came and everyone died. Rui's hopes were almost brought into fruition until he was reincarnated to stop Arceus's return. Rui learned about his origins, about Artorias... but never learned about Dark's origins.

Dark was born as Rui's half brother to a poor family. Artorias had decided to bed one of his servants behind his wife's back. Artorias had three sons, Cray, Rui, and dark. However, Dark was originally known as Arthur. His mother raused him, telling him stories about the palace, never letting it slip that Artorias is his father. Until one day...

Arthur had been his mother set the table for a special guest, the king was going to meet them, "Is this good mother?"

Arthur's mother smiled excitedly, "That's perfect! Good job my little Arthy."

Arthur blushed, smiling, "Yay!"

Just then, the door was knocked upon. Arthur's mother quickly went to open it, revealing their king. Artorias wad a lot large than Arthur imagined. The gaze that befell him was not what Arthur had expected from the king.

Artorias said, "As I thought, he does look exactly like my son Rui."

I backed up, feeling a bit intimidated from our king, but I still bowed, "Hello your majesty."

My mother replied nervously, "Isn't that a good thing?"

Artorias looked at her, "Not if it will be suspicious."

My mother froze, "W-what?"

Artorias pulled out his sword, "You and I both know why he must die. I cannot allow anyone to know I had a son outside my wife."

My mother got in front of me, "No! I won't let you kill my son!"

Artorias smiled at that, "How touching. A mother's love should be eternal, luckily you both will be cast into the afterlife."

My mother got on her knees, "Please master... please... I'll do anything! Anything at all! If you'd please spare my son. He's not a threat to you! He's just a boy!"

Artorias eyed me, "Just a boy huh... Fine."

My mother looked at him, crying, "You'll spare him!?"

Artorias nodded, "Yes, I will spare him."

An arrow flew past Artorias and went through my mother's throat. The next few minutes, I could only cry and stare as my mother fell over and pitifully touched the arrow. Her blood pouring out from the front and back of her throat profusely. I felt my blood running cold as I watched, too shocked and frighten to do anything. When she finally died and laid still, I finally yelled.

I fell to my knees beside her, "Mother!"

Just then, an arrow pierced my left arrow, making me fall onto my back. I cried out in pain, looking at the arrow. Artorias left my home, leaving his soldiers to take care of me. To their surprise, I quickly got up and ran to my room. I closed the door and blocked it with my chair to give me time. My arm bled pretty badly, but I had to ignore it for now. I desperately looked for a means to escape, looking out my windows only to find the kings men there. I noticed they began lighting torches, my fear doubling as I realized what theur plan was. The banging on the door ended, making me resort to trying to escape from the front. Instead, I found the front end of my house completely ablaze. Half of my mother's body is slowly burning away, scarring the image upon my soul. The torches were thrown in behind me, the house quickly becoming engulfed with flames and black smoke. I couldn't breath, falling to my knees as I began to desperate crawl to the door. My oxygen deprived body barely made it past my mother before collapsing. I stared at the fire, crying as I realized this is going to be my final moment... I was going to die inside my house, next to my mother, in a fire...

* * *

(...You know... that actually was a bit darker than I originally intended. I think I normally just have characters dying quickly, but this one just seemed longer to me. I hope you all enjoyed it.)


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: Defeating the Floor Boss?**

 **(This is going to continue Dark's past story and how he came to be so hateful towards pokemon.)**

* * *

 **{Third Person Point of View}**

Pain... that's all there was left to feel as Arthut awoke from his slumber. It was small at first, then suddenly became unbearable. His eyes shot out, letting out a howl of pain. He was not in his home, but ashes stuck to his body. That meant he was in the fire, so none of that was a dream! Although... if he's alive... why does he have to endure all this pain? That's when he noticed... the fire scarred his body, incineration most of the top skin beyond repair. It was utterly repulsive! The pinkish red skin mixing with the tarred top skin made him look like an abomination. Arthur forced himself up, trying to see where he is currently.

He called out, "Is... anyone there?"

His voice was hoarse, dry from all the smoke he must have inhaled. Arthur let out a few coughs, feeling his thirst come forth. No answered him, forcing the boy to try and get up himself. The entire room was pitch black apart from the bed he rested on. A tiny candle lit it from the top of a bedside table. A slight draft told Arthur that there's a window open.

Arthur asked himself, "Where am I?"

Arthur did his best to get up from the bed, but ended up falling back in pain. The bottom of his feet were badly burned as well. Yet, he must endure it longer. This was not a place to stay for long, at least, he thought it wasn't. The lack of light was not appeasing. Arthur couldn't think of any human that could withstand such deep unrelenting dark. Not even the king. When he thought of him, Arthur clenched his hands in anger. Remembering it was his fault, Arthur is stuck in this situation. Then another thought crossed his mind, hell. Was this his hell? If so, why would he go to hell in the first place? Arthur was always a good boy, doing no harm to anyone.

A low cackle made Arthur's hair raise, "Eh heh heh heh heh heh..."

Arthur swallowed hard, getting up from the bed again. This time he was ready for the pain. It seared through his body for a moment, but he still stood. Then he took a step, picking up the candle for light. The tiny candle did its best to light the area. Seeing only a foot in front of him, Arthur walked. He found a doorway, leading him through a creaky hall. It shook, as if an earthquake started, then rested easy. Arthur look hesitant steps, ready to run whenever anything dangerous comes into contact. A door finally stopped his progression, flicking lights and shadows danced from underneath it. Arthur slowly grasped the handle, shivering like a leaf as low humming started to come from the door. With a gentle pull, the door opened, revealing a circular room lit by blue candles. 6 men dressed in black cloaks that concealed their entire body, face, but not their hands, we're arranged as if to make an imaginary hexagon.

Arthur took a step back, scared from their humming, "Who are they?"

Then he bumped into something, a man was behind him, "What are you doing outside of your room!?" He demanded.

Arthur turned around, still shivering, "I-I... Where am I?"

The man reached for me, but stopped himself, "You're injured. You mustn't leave your bed. Please, follow me back."

Arthur stood his ground, mostly out of fear, "Please, tell me where I am."

The man sighed, "You're in the stone sanctuary. One of our followers brought you here. You're still badly injured from the fire."

Arthur calmed down a bit, "So... you're saving my life?"

The cloaked man nodded, "Yes, let us go back to your room."

Arthur wasn't sure what he should feel... but ultimately decided to follow the mysterious man.

* * *

 **{Rui's Point of View}**

 **[Status of the Game so far]**

 **Top Player of the Chapter: UncleInTheAttic**

 **Gender: Male**

 **Age: 22 Years old**

 **Level: 77**

 **Class: Bow Specialist**

 **Weapon: (Super Rare) Tri-Tipped Dragonite Bow**

 **Skills: 39**

 **Guild: Sharpshooters**

 **Guild Leader: KeenEye107(Level 74)**

 **Quests Completed: 1291**

 **Players left in the Game: 1.71**

 **Players that have died: 864,272**

 **Floor Bosses Defeated: 40**

 **Highest Floor Achieved: 32**

* * *

 **(Floor 32 - Final Boss Room)**

As Justin led me to the boss room, I began to feel nervous. It's been a while since I last soloed a boss. Once we reached the large boss, blue fire torches lit up the area. Justin stepped aside, letting me walk to the door.

He said, "You know, this is your last chance to back out."

I shook my head, "Don't try to make me quit now. You'll be watching, right?"

Justin nodded, "Of course man, if anything goes wrong, I'll be right here to save you."

I allowed myself to let out a sigh of relief before putting my hand on the door. The door quickly opened, revealing a magma cavern. Much to my dismay, the heat began to eat away at me. I looked through my inventory, equipping some heat resistance items. I ended up wearing a green muscle shirt, Flareon shorts and sandles. I felt like I was going to the beach, not a magma cavern.

I did notice a difference in the temperature, "Huh..."

Justin asked, "Where'd you get those?"

I thought back, answering his question, "I found these in a chest on floor 17. It was guarded by a Flareon. Don't tell Eevee about it, please."

Justin chuckled, "My lips are sealed. Go kick their ass."

I pulled out my sword, heading in, "Alright." I talked to myself, "Silvia, are you ready?"

"..." There was no response.

I looked at my sword, "Silvia?"

Again, no response.

I started getting mad, "Silvia!"

Suddenly the magma cavern began to shape as the ground under me cracked. I quickly jumped aside as magma erupted from the ground. I stood on a rock as lava filled the room, creating a sea of molten rock. Very few platforms were left for me to stand on. This boss room was designed for flame retardant players. Then, Level 59 magcargo started to climb onto the rock around me. I quickly unequipped Silvia's sword and took out one of my better ones.

I slashed my sword vertically, "Aqua Slash!"

The water evaporated instantly, a message popping up, "All water and ice attacks are negated."

I started killing the magcargo with quick slashes, "Damn it! Just my luck, ugh!"

A bit of magcargo blood got on my arm, burning me for a 1000 points of damage. I jumped away, letting myself heal but my healing was hindered by the heat as well. After killing at least 25 magcargo, I started feeling the effects of their burning blood. My health points have fallen to about 30%. I had to use a health potion but they kept refreshing embargo on me.

I felt my back against a wall, "Silvia, I really need your help here."

I heard Silvia giggle, "I thought you said you didn't need me."

I gripped my hilt tighter, "Silvia, now is not the time. I need you to give me power."

Silvia snickered, "Why should I give someone as ungrateful as you power? I was willing to help you, but then you declared that you didn't need me. Now that I think about it, you were the one who wanted my power in the first place. Now, you need to beg for it. Beg for me to save you."

I killed three more magcargo, getting hit with a flamethrower. I saw my health fall to 5%, feeling panic begin to rise in my chest. The embargo was still in effect, my regeneration is only 10 hp/second, and I had no one to help me. Wait... that's it!

I called out to Justin, "I need help!"

Then I realized the entrance was blocked by lava. There no way he could get in... unless... there was another way in here. Is there? Come to think of it, this place was under a volcano... if he did try to come save me, it'd be impossible. The only entrance has been submerged in lava. There's no way they could get in here. Im... trapped. I started fighting for my survival, but there was only so much i could do. A magcargo was able to tackle me, causing me to lose a bit more hp. The smoke and damage began to take their toll on me. I leaned back against a rock to hold myself up. My sword shook a bit in my hand as my Hp stayed at 1%.

If it wasn't for the heat, I think I'd be crying, 'I'm... going to die? Like this?'

More magcargo inched towards me, lava dripping off them. I tried to move, but ultimately just slumped to the ground.

Silvia knelt down beside me, "Quite sad that you'll die here."

I looked at her, "If you're not going to help, then mind your own business."

Silvia snickered, "That attitude is why I'm not helping you in the first place. You begged me to help you, remember?"

I shook my head, "No, I don't remember that."

Silvia placed a hand on my cheek, "Oh? Too weak to move now?"

I hung my head, "Shut up..."

Silvia made me look at her, "I was murdered by the game creator. He killed me, because of you."

I was losing consciousness, "Why... would he..."

I couldn't finish, the heat was beginning to get to me until I heard a loud explosion. All the smoke began to pour out of the room as the roof began to collapse. The magcargo turned around, looking at the hole. When I looked up, I noticed my Hp regeneration began to skyrocket.

I heard TheImmortalEevee yell, "Rui! Are you alive!?"

I shook my head, "Damn it Scott, if I wasn't exhausted, I'd reply."

Silvia sat next to me, "Looks like you're going to be saved."

I placed my hand on top of hers, "Yeah..."

TheImmortalEevee jumped down into the room with Mipha and Justin. In all honesty, I was really happy to see them. TheImmortalEevee looked around for me, quickly noticing the magcargo. Without hesitation, TheImmortalEevee, jumped over the magcargo and landed in front of me.

He asked me, "Are you okay?"

I looked up at him, sighing, "Do I look okay?"

TheImmortalEevee laughed, "Yeah... you looked like you were about to die. Luckily Justin told us what happened. Why'd you come in here alone?"

I shrugged, "I thought I could handle it."

Okay, his name is Scott so I'll just call him that from this sentence on. Scott turned to face the magcargo, fixing a bracelet on his left wrist. Scott pressed a button on the bracelet, allowing him to access one of his advanced eevee forms. His hair bristled up, resembling Flareon's hair. Large ears popped up from the hair on top of his head. A bushy Flareon tail appeared from the back of his clothes. Shiny grey fur covered his hands and forearms. Little fangs appeared from his lips, poking out cutely with slit blue eyes. I almost started laughing, he looked like a furry. Then, we heard an ear popping screech.

Mipha got over to us as quickly as possible, "It's so cute!"

Scott tried to stop her as she tackled him, "Hey, what are you doing!?"

Mipha had her arms wrapped around him, petting his head as she nuzzled him, "He's so cute! Can I keep him!?"

Scott yelled, "Get off me Mipha!"

I couldn't suppress my laughter as Mipha mercilessly pat Scott's head. Then she began rubbing his tail, making Scott blush. He kept trying to push her off but she was too busy fangirling over him. She only stopped when the magcargo attacked them. Using his Flareon form, fire attacks and lava damage are severely reduced. They barely harmed him at all.

Scott looked at Mipha, "Heal Murloc while I handle these things."

Mipha quickly nodded, running over to me, "Healing pulse."

I felt a calming sensation spread throughout my body as my Hp immediately went up to about 46%. The actual amount left is 8357 out of 17634.

Mipha took a step back, "That's all I can do for now. My healing aura will increase your regeneration, but I can't use any healing powers for a couple minutes."

I stood up, watching Scott kill the magcargo, "Thanks. How did you guys know you could destroy the roof?"

Mipha shook her head, "We didn't. Someone else was there, he said you needed our help and destroyed the roof for us."

I looked at her, confused by this news, "Who was it?"

Mipha frowned, "We don't know. He kept his back to us. I do know one thing, he was very powerful. I could sense it coming off him in waves."

I decided not to dwell on it, "So, are we going to have reinforcements?"

Mipha shook her head no, "We didn't tell our clan mates. We needed to come straight to your rescue. Don't worry, they'll be here soon."

The ground began to shake as the lava suddenly shot up to the hole and began hardening. It was like the magma was alive and wanted to seal the hole. With the only entrance sealed, we were trapped in here until we defeated the boss.

Mipha gripped her trident tightly, "We're trapped..."

I immediately ran into battle, killing a couple of magcargo with Scott. I couldn't see Justin and that worried me. His main pokemon is a Beedrill and we all know it's weak against fire.

I called out for him, "Justin! Where are you!?"

Justin was surrounded by magcargo, "I'm over here! I need backup!"

I turned to Scott, "Protect Mipha."

Scott nodded, "On it, make sure you both live."

I pulled out my sword, jumping over the magcargo to land on rocks poking from the magma. Justin was trying his best to keep beedrill alive, even going as far as using its mega form. The beedrill flew around the magcargo, distracting them as it used poison jabs for minimum damage. Once I reached him, we worked together to defeat as many of the magcargo until the room began to shook.

A blue warning screen popped up, "Warning! Boss approaching!"

I looked at Justin, "What do you think it'll be?"

Justin scratched his chin, "Uh... Entei? They say in the games that a new one is born with every volcano eruption."

I raised a brow, "I'm not sure that's the correct wording but close enough I guess."

Justin did a nervous laugh, "Besides, it could also be Heatran. I mean, why would they put groudon on such a low floor?"

The lava in the middle of the room began to pulsate as groudon emerged. Its red armored body is completely unfazed by the lava. The magma seemed to heat up from him as it dripped off its body. Groudon roared towards the ceiling as seven health bars appeared. It was level 77 and then it began to primal reverse.

I slowly turned my head to glare at Justin, "Why would they ever, by god, put such a legendary pokemon at such a low floor. I mean, really? Why would they try it in a game meant to murder every person playing it?"

Justin sighed, "God damn it..."

I continued, "I mean, let's not even fathom the chance that it might primal reverse. I mean, that must be too much in a death game like this."

Justin held his forehead, "Ugh... you're not going to let this go, are you?"

I wanted to continue, except a tidal wave of lave came towards us. Justin used his Beedrill to fly us over the magma. I looked at Primal Groudon, seeing how massive it is. The heat began to rise rapidly. It let out a roar, nearly blowing us into the damn legendary pokemon looked at us, charging a Fire Blast until it was hit with a Dark Pulse.

I looked at Scott to see he was in his Umbreon Form instead, "You okay?" He asked, sweating.

Beedrill dropped us off, so I yelled, "Yeah! Thanks!"

Mipha began channeling energy, forcing a powerful rainstorm to develop. Primal groudon roared again, dispersing the rain storm. I readied my weapon and used one of my special attacks. It's just called water cut, I slash a powerful wave of water. It hit Groudon, causing it to yell out angrily. The heat evaporated most of the water, causing minimal damage.

I looked at Justin, "I hate to say it, but I think we're dead."

Justin shook his head, "I'm not giving up. I still have my new form."

I raised a brow, "New form? Isn't mega the best there is?"

Justin shook his head, "No. I unlocked fusion on floor 28. I just haven't used it since it can cause... problems."

I asked him, "What kind of problems?"

Justin coughed, "Well... for one, it can't be undone. Two, I'm fusing with my beedrill so I'll be a hybrid, and three, I wish to initiate sweet justice."

I gave him a blank look, "Was that last line necessary?"

Justin didn't answer me as his beedrill flew to be behind him. Justin took off his mega bracelet, gripping it in his hand before thrusting his fist into the air. Light encased him and beedrill as they fused together. I needed to shield my eyes as groudon watched them in confusion. Once the light dimmed doen, I looked at Justin to see he hasn't just fused, it was like he evolved. Justin stood at 7 feet tall with yellow and black stripped scales covering his arms and neck. A helmet shaped like a mixture of a knight helm and beedrill head covered his top. The eyes were red bug eye visors that can turn on or off. In his left hand is a wide kite shield with a hornet design. A poison tipped spike protrudes from the center with other sharp edges to cause further lacerations. The scales covering his chest and back are a dark green with black dots. His legs are extremely thin around his ankles and knees with strange feet. The armor made his feet look like they have a pointed back and two toes on the front, making a V. Obviously, most of the V is filled in with only the tips pointing out. The wings of the beedrill are folded over his back, covering on the top half.

Justin looked at me, the red visor turning off so I can see his eyes, "How do I look?"

I nodded, "Pretty good. I'm impressed."

Justin looked at primal groudon, "It looks like I have to be justice's knight riding into battle against such evil."

I gave him an unimpressed look, "You ruined it..."

Primal groudon charged up another Fire Blast as a Lance formed around Justin's right hand. Without hesitating, he flew towards primal groudon. I thought he was going to dodge the Fire Blast, instead, he went through it. His lance cut through it easily, flew at a high velocity. Without stopping, he flew into primal groudon's mouth and pierced through the back of his head.

Primal groudon reeled back, screeching in pain, "Rrrrraaagh!"

Justin flew overhead, "You're not going to stop us. We _WILL_ see our world again!"

Justin flew at primal groudon again, but this time was met with a slash. I yelled out in shock, thinking he was going to fall in lava. Luckily, he regained his posture and flew back up. The hot air continued to increase, causing me to fall to my knees. It was too much to take. I knew Justin felt it... but he didn't want to give up. He couldn't give up... we needed to win... we need to go home...

I stood up, "With or without her power... I'm still one of the best players. I can't let him outshine me like this! Heeyah!"

I activated my skill, battle cry. It allows me to take all the aggro of every enemy in the vicinity. Primal groudon looked at me, growling angrily before charging at me. I started running up the wall behind me. I had to, its body is too massive to dodge on such a small rock. Primal groudon tried to slash me, however, it only hit the wall. I dropped onto his arm, ignoring the burn damage, and ran up it. It looked shocked as I did this, before taking and snapped uppercut that'd kill an Ursaring. With the throat exposed, I spun in and snapped circle, cutting into it for critical damage. I ended up getting careless, so the second hand grabbed me.

It squeezed me, making my hp drop to 40% immediately, "Aack!"

Justin yelled, "I got your back!"

Justin flew like and snapped bullet, slamming into primal groudon's back with a drill run. I felt it's grip weaken, so I slipped out. Not wanting to waste anymore time, I jumped over to Mipha for some healing. We need to kill this thing quickly, but how?

Silvia whispered in my ear, "You could use me if you beg."

I rolled my eyes, 'Or you could stop being childish and help me anyways.'

Silvia scoffed, leaving me alone again as Justin yelled, "Air Zone: Null!"

Primal groudon froze for a moment as his figure suddenly looked distorted. The air began to cool rapidly as primal groudon backed away. Justin must have been able to negate his ability! Justin charged in with a Drill Run, aiming to do more damage. Instead, grimal groudon caught him with a tight grip. The hand shook violently as primal groudon tried to crush Justin.

Mipha yelled, "We need to save him!"

Scott is too busy protecting us from magcargo, so it was up to me. I have 80% of my health, so I can take an attack or two. I charged at primal groudon's legs, the lava immediately hardened on the floor, so I attacked the exposed joints on the back of its legs. Primal groudon fell forward with a roar, releasing Justin.

Justin flew over to me, "He still has 6 bars of health left! I don't think we can keep this up."

I said, "We've got Mipha to heal us, there's no way we can lose."

Primal groudon got up, turning towards us with fire burning around its eyes. It released another roar before a loud crack was heard. Primal groudon fell forward, cracks forming on its back. Then, a thin, but wide hand, like groudon's, ripped from its back. What looked like magma boiled under the red armor, acting as blood. A new creature crawled out of groudon's back; magma blood covering it. The magma dripped off, leaving this thing unharmed with shiny red plated skin. It's neck, joints, and stomach are an orange with red plated armor all over its body that isn't orange. Blue lines, like groudon's, cut around the red plates all over its body. It has a thin frame around its joints and waist. The forearms, hands, and legs are pretty think with the red plated armor. Its face looked human, except he had groudon's mouth. He shook his head, cleaning it of magma to reveal long Silver hair. He opened his eyes, revealing dark ruby colored irises. Standing tall at 6 foot 9, this thing stared at us.

Justin muttered, "What... is that?"

I shook my head, "I have no idea."

He smirked at us, "Ultra Beast Evolution... complete."

* * *

 **(That's the end of that. I hope this chapter was about what you guys expected. ^_^ I hope you guys favorite, follow, or review to support the story.)**


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: Ultra Beast GR-001**

 **(I hope you guys are all doing well. College has been hitting me hard lately. I even had an emotional collapse at one point. I'm just happy to be writing again honestly. Please enjoy the chapter! ^_^)**

* * *

 **{Rui's Point of View}**

 **(Molten Cavern)**

The ultra beast cracked several joints in its body, releasing highly pressurized steam. This... thing looked like a hybrid between a human and a groudon, Albeit, that's not possible. It came out of groudon's body like it lived inside it... feeding off it. Groudon's dead body still stayed, with molten lava dripping from it.

Justin came to my side, "What do you think we should do?"

I shrugged, "Kill it?"

Justin shook his head at my suggestion, "I know that, but how?"

I thought to myself, 'What can we do?'

Scott and Mipha ran over to us, hiding Mipha behind all of us. The ultra beast stopped cracking his joints, a large name tag that reads GR-001 appeared over him. He held his shield towards us, extending his claws to the right. I knew that formation from another enemy, it's typically a frontal shield bash combo.

I held my sword defensively, warning the others, "Be careful. He's going to attack from the front."

Mipha gripped her staff tightly, "How do you know?"

The ultra beast ran at us, attacking with a speed groudon could never hope to match. I ran forward, feeling comfort from my friends. I sidestepped the shield bash, moving to its left side. That's when I noticed a distortion in its body. I tried to attack it, but my sword went through him, like he didn't exist. I turned my head around, seeing him behind me. He lunged his claws forward, cutting into my back and thrusting me up.

I used an ability called 'Rebound' to fix myself, as well as, create some distance from the ultra beast, "Guys, it has a special ability that allows attacks to pass through him."

Justin called out, "If our attacks go right through him, then what do we do?"

I smiled to mysef, activating another skill, "We test it."

GR-001 looked at me, seeing my sword glow as I used a special attack known as Mach 2 Cut. It's one of the fastest, and most mana using, attack in the game. Sure enough, it hit him.

Gr-001 growled, using a hiss like voice, "Grrrrah... humans."

Its health bar dropped a little bit as I turned to face him. He glared at me, flexing his claws before engaging me in a one-on-one battle. His claw clashed with my blade as we exchanged blows. GR-001 has an ability most heavy swordsman have called 'Rend'. It allows the user to inflict damage if the defender uses a sword to block. As a shieldless one hander, I was at a huge disadvantage.

Justin flew in, "Poison Slash."

GR-001 turned, midslash, to block his attack with his shield. Then twisted to shield bash me, but I sidestepped and slashed his right arm with a Mach 2 cut. I noticed my attacks started to get faster as it got used to Mach 2 cut. It was so good, his distortion ability got negated.

GR-001 roared, "Heat Wave!"

Justin ad I were forced to jump back, taking major damage from the Heat Wave. GR-001 tried to attack me again, getting blocked by Scott instead. I noticed Scott is in his Flareon form and used Flare Blitz. Mipha used her healing powers quickly pick me and Justin up.

I gave her a thumbs up, "Thanks Mipha!"

Mipha cried out, "Duck!"

I quickly ducked, dodging a fatal attack and kicked GR-001 away. With his attack on me, he was unprepared for Justin's sneak attack. Justin laced his weapon with poison, hitting GR-001 in a flurry of thirty hits before smacking him away with his lance. Toxic activated, injuring GR-001 slowly. I could his health bar ever so slightly go down with 2 bars left.

I taunted him, "You aren't so tough, I've faced stronger magicarps."

GR-001 hung his head, placing the shield on his back. With a sickening snap, the shield began to merge into his back and spread an orange glow along its body. A sword grew out of its hand, bursting into flames as the blade emerged. A circle within the handle allowed GR-001 to twirl it like a kunai knife. Flames began to coat the blade, increasing its base damage. Justin and I attacked him, making it far to easy to dodge as we run into each other. GR-001 stepped forward, slashing both of us up with 4 diagonal uppercuts before stabbing the floor. An eruption of flames blasted us away with extremely low health.

I struggled to my knees, "Man, I really wish we has back up right now."

Justin scoffed, "What, this getting too difficult for you, ya whiny bitch?"

I shook my head, laughing a bit, "Don't make me laugh right now Justin."

GR-001 tried to attack us, but Scott came to our rescue again. Using Flareon, he tanked the boss' fire damage, while blocking the sword with a shield. Mipha tried to heal us as fast as she could, but Scott got overwhelmed by the constant flurry of attacks. With a fatal uppercut, Scott's shield is flung across the room. The ultra beast tried to deliver a follow-up, but Scott withdrawn himself from the fight. He stood in front of us, glancing back to check our health bars. We were barely at 20% when Scott turned his attention back on the boss and sighed.

Scott said, "We'll shit. Looks like I'm going to have to do it."

I looked at him, confused, "Do what?"

Scott smiled, "Justin wasn't the only one that learned a new trick. I learned how to evolve further as well. In fact... I can use all of the eevolutions right now. The only problem is, each one has a level, and I don't have that much spare time to train all of them."

Justin is just as confused as I am, "So... what are you going to do."

Scott made a silver bracelet appear and pressed, "Simple, fusion evolution!"

Scott suddenly bursts into flames as several rings of water circle around him in mid air. Purple electricity forced the fire and water to collide, releasing a giant blast of steam. The hot steam burned my eyes a bit, making it hard to see. However, when I did, I saw a much different Scott. He wore the head of a Flareon with Vaporeon scaled armor covering his chest and lower body. Flareon fur covered his shoulders, elbows, and knees. Orange flareon skin covered the area between his shoulders and elbows, as well as, his upper legs to his knees. The rest revealed his skin with a dense steam cloud circling his body from his feet coiling up to his chest. He looked back at us, his eyes going from a dark blue on the outer rim, to a blazing red as it got closer to his pupil.

He smiled, revealing a fang, "What do you guys think of steameon?"

I shook my head, getting out of shock, "It looks cool dude!"

Scott looked ahead, "I was hoping you'd say that."

Scott pointed his palm at the ultra beast, shooting a thin jet of water that could cut through steel. GR-001 attacked him, trying to use its speed to overpower Scott's new fusion. Scott never moved, he took the attack, making it pass right through him. GR-001 looked shocked, until Scott grabbed his throat and punched him in the gut with a Ice punch.

Scott whispered, "Shall I tell you where you miscalculated?"

GR-001 looked at him, "Miscalculated?"

Scott punched GR-001 in the stomach repeatedly, yelling, "You stupidly try to kill my friends!" Scott punched his across his face before kicking him in the chest.

GR-001 flung back, rolling and bouncing on the ground, taking tremendous amounts of damage. When it stopped rolling, the ultra beast struggled to its knees. Scott used his steam to grab the ultra beast's leg and picked him up. It slammed him on the hardened molten rock repeatedly, before dragging him back to Scoot. Scott held him as eye level, gripping him by his head.

GR-001 asked, "How... how come there's such a difference in strength?"

Scott glared at him, "You're nothing but a pathetic group of ones and zeroes." Scott headbutt him and kicked him away, "While I'm the greatest eevolution expert in the world, Grandmaster Scott! That's why!"

Scott exploded as steam erupted from him body. GR-001 is down to the last ten percent of his final health bar. It stood across from Scott, glaring at him. Justin and I got back to 60% hp, allowing us to get back into the fight for the final blow. Mipha stayed behind us, making a line of defense with her healing aura to protect us.

Scott smiled, "Looks like we win."

GR-001 hung its head before falling forward, it's hp went to zero from the poison inflicted earlier. All of us began to cheer until we fell the room temperature fall. Hot air from the rocks, and Groudon's molten blood went to GR-001's body, reviving it and all of its hp. Except, this time, it had armor covering its arms and chest to increase its defense.

GR-001 roared, "I will kill you!"

It slashed horizontally, sending a Shockwave of flames towards us. Scott used his steam to block it, but that killed our vision. We knew it was going to attack, but from where? Scott must have known since he moved first, going towards Mipha to protect her. I couldn't move fast enough to help, so I watched as GR-001 ran at them with metal claws instead of his sword. I still kept running towards them as Scott tried to stop it with a jet of water and steam. The ultra beast ducked, dodging the attack and stabbed Scott through his stomach. Without stopping, GR-001 pushed forward, stabbing into Mipha as well.

GR-001 reached around and grabbed Mipha's face, "Cripple!"

Mipha screamed, a cripple status appearing over her hud. That status is extremely rare. It cuts attack, movement and regeneration by 80% and silences all magic as well as auras. That means Mipha is completely helpess, but luckily I was able to force the boss away from them. Scott held his stomach, his hp down to 5% from that one attack.

I looked at the boss, standing up with Justin beside me now, "What do we do Justin? We have thirty minutes before the cripple effect goes away."

Justin shook his head, "I've got nothing other than to fight."

I nodded in agreement, "yeah, it looks like it. Please don't die Justin."

Justin sighed, "Don't worry about me Rui. Don't forget, you're the heart and soul of the front lines. We need you more than me."

I shook my head, "Don't say that Justin, all my comrades are important to me. I can't watch another good friend die."

Justin didn't get to answer me as we were forced into the fight of our lives. The boss has much faster, and heavier, attacks with his metal claws instead. It took all of my strength just to block the attacks. The follow-up is crazy, the fire just explodes for bonus damage off each attack. I couldn't believe it, this thing just kept getting stronger. Sure, it doesn't have the most amount of speed, but it was still extremely difficult. Justin needed to back off as I began to go all in, matching its speed eith my own. Our attacks canceled each other out as we assaulted each other viciously. The onslaught is ferocious, eventually I got a few good hits in, but the explosive bonus damage made me lose most of my hp.

Justin yelled, "Rui, get back!"

I tried to, only to get grabbed by the boss, so I yelled in shock, "Oh no!"

The boss screamed, "Cripple!"

I immediately felt the effects and fell to the floor. I could barely move now. The boss stood over me until Justin desperately tackled him away. I could only watch as the two fought, but Justin wasn't going to win. I was useless... I hate being useless! I hate it! Why can't someone give me power?

Then I heard its voice, the demon within my sword, "I can give you power Rui." It mimicked Silvia's voice, but I knew it wasn't her... it just can't be her.

I whispered, "Please... I need to save my friend."

It giggled, "I know, but what will you give me?"

I clenched my sword angrily, 'I'm taking your power, whether you like it or not! I'm not letting another one of my friends die!'

Just then, the boss glanced at me, knowing I'm completely helpess. Without a second thought, it ran towards me, eager to kill as panic began to rise in my body.

* * *

 **(Inside my Mind)**

 **{Third Person Point of View}**

The demon within Rui's sword circled him, grinning at his anger, his exhaustion, his waning will to try. The monster sheds its facade, revealing itself to be a female succubus like creature.

It whispers in his ear, "Do not fret Rui. I will give you the power you need."

Without warning, a skeleton hand grabbed her by the throat, with a distorted, threatening voice, "You're not Silvia. I have no need for you."

The female demon is pulled into Rui's back against her will, merging their souls together. Hers being overtaken and forgotten instantly.

* * *

I couldn't move in time as GR-001 ran towards me. With my health bar in the red, cripple status in effect, and no health potions, I was ready to die. A look of shock must have been plastered on my face as it got closer. A grin spread across its face as it lunged its claws towards me. That look... was overshadowed when Justin threw me away. I fell back, watching in slow motion as Justin was stabbed through his back by GR-001's claws.

I held a hand towards him, screaming, "Justin!"

Justin grabbed at the claws, screeching it pain as GR-001 picked him up. When he was overhead, I watched in horror as the ultra beast stabbed his other set of claws into him. With a defying rip, it tore Justin in half.

Mipha screamed in fear as Scott exclaimed, "Oh my god..."

I cried as I screamed his name again, "Justiiiiiin!"

GR-001 snorted at me, tossing his upper half towards me. The last look I saw on Justin's face was a look of pain and sadness. Then, he exploded into green pixilated shards. Justin was a top player from the beginning, someone that rallied everyone together... he died... for me..? Why would he do that!?

I gripped my sword tighter, feeling anger flow through me, "No... no..! NOOOOO!"

A red exclamation appeared over me, with a female voice stating, "Warning, temporary level increase detected, forbidden skill unlocked."

No one was prepared for my outburst as I suddenly pulled out a second sword. The ultra beast wasn't even paying attention to me until I slashed it across its left cheek. It swiped its arm, looking for me, but I wasn't there. I jumped off the ceiling, spinning like a top with both swords. I cut down its back, disappearing again.

GR-001 roared, "Where are you!"

I appeared in front of him, stabbing him in the stomach, "Shut up."

I could tell he saw my level was 148, "Impossible."

I pulled out my sword, "Heeyah!" I slashed it across his chest.

This... monster could not dodge or block my blows. Every attack, every cut, I kept screaming. Pixilated blood started spewing out of GR-001 as I continued to assault it. There was nothing it could do as I cut all over its body mercilessly. My screaming getting louder as its own screaming did as well.

With an upward slash, I yelled, "Hrrraahhhh!"

I cut his head clean off, sending it straight into the air. It landed near me, bouncing firca few moments as its body fell to the ground. I hung my head, crying softly until I collapsed onto the ground and wailed out loud. Scott and Mipha ran over to me, trying to comfort me, until Mipha started crying as well. This was the first time she's seen another player die... and it was in such a cruel way. My level began to drop until it returned to my original level, the second sword disappearing from my hand, and Silvia was gone from my mind.

* * *

 **\- 30 Minutes Later -**

We finally calmed down, making a small grave for Justin as to remember him. He was my friend... a good friend... and he believed in me. It was his dream to save as many players as he can from this game. Now... did he pass that dream onto me? Is that why he sacrificed himself?

These thoughts ran themselves through my head as I began to wonder what he wanted. There were many moments when he said he was... tired. Tired of being in the game, tired of having to work everyday, and... tired of living. He never gave up though... he kept at it... working with his clan to make them better... now what will they do?

Mipha asked, "Is... is death always like that?"

Scott looked down, "I want to lie... but I can't. More or less, it can be like that."

I hugged my knees, suddenly hearing footsteps as the other top players and guilds found a way into the room. They looked surprised to see us, even more so when I got up and walked towards them.

Vulthurin asked, "Rui, what happened?"

I hung my head, hiding my eyes after putting on a cloak, "..."

They all watched me leave, no one trying to stop me as Scott and Mipha met with them. After that day, everyone knew who I was, the Swordsman of Death. Everyone was amazed that I defeated the boss using two swords, a feature that's prohibited in this game. In all honesty, I don't know where it came from. The demon inside me has been quiet, and that's when I decided to go visit the gardevoir hometown.

* * *

 **(I'm sorry this took so long to come out, I hope the bad ass rage moment will ease that pain slightly. Please follow, favorite, or review to support the story. ^_^)**


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: Finding The Gardevoir Village**

 **(Hey guys, I'm hoping to get this chapter out before my college starts on October 2nd for my fifth quarter. Justin dying was a hard choice, but Rui needed the push to finally subdue the evil within him and absorb it. Now he's gained access to a few forbidden abilities, but those will develop on their own. As for the other players, they undergo their own evolution as well. I hope you all enjoy this new chapter. ^_^/)**

* * *

 **{Third Person Point of View}**

 **-October 24th, 2041-**

 **(Human World)**

Cray is locked in a cell, staring at a blank white wall, waiting for his next 'mate' to enter his room. For the past few months, Takata has kept Cray trapped in here. He's using him for experiments involving fertility rates and hybrid qualities. It's been weeks since Takata last appeared, but he knew the bastard was watching him. Relishing the fact that a once proud man like Cray, has become such a lowly man. Today, however, is different. The person who opened his door is a gardevoir, a very strange one at that.

She approached him, "You are Cray, correct?"

He looked at her with his eyes, not moving his head before shrugging, "It doesn't matter what I'm called anymore."

The gardevoir introduced herself, "My name is Silvia, I'm your brother's mate... or I was."

That lit a spark in Cray, infuriating that this... thing dared to touch his younger sibling. Without warning, Cray got up, trying to strangle the pokemon. She easily stopped him, giving the man a worried look as he was pinned to a wall.

Silvia sighed, "Listen to me, I'm sorry.

Cray flinched, "You're sorry?"

Silvia leaned back, looking down shamefully as her wings folded up, "I'm Gaia..."

Cray stared at her in shock, "You... you were Gaia all this time?"

Silvia nodded, "I know you hate me, but I truly love your brother."

Cray glared at her, "So what? You're here for my blessing to screw my brother?"

Silvia bit her lip before saying, "I... already did."

Cray went silent for a long while before saying, "You better have something good to say before I make my life dedicated to murdering you."

Silvia released him from the psychic influence, "Your brother is one of the best players in the game."

Cray nodded, "I figured he would, he'd want to be freed."

Silvia continued, "He's suffered through so much, and I want to be there for him. I want to keep him in the light, so to speak."

Cray gave her a weird look, "Why are you telling me this?"

Silvia shakily took out some important documents, "I... I need you to sign this in order to say Rui's my husband."

Cray clenched his fists, "Is this some kind of fucking joke to you!?"

Silvia held the papers firmly, "This is no joke. It's the only way I can get back into the game. Takata won't let me until I get you to sign. He agreed to this only because he said it was impossible."

Cray crossed his arms, leaning against a wall gingerly, "It _is_ impossible, I'm not signing it."

Silvia shook the papers, "Rui might die if I'm not there! He might turn evil and start killing other players. He might-"

Cray yelled, "I would rather have that happen than let some inhuman whore like you marry him!"

Silvia started crying, "Please Cray. I need this." She released a pitiful wail, "I just want to see him and apologize for everything I've done. Is that so bad?"

Cray watched her cry, staying silent before giving up, "You got a pen?"

Silvia gasped, looking at him before clumsily looking for one, "Thank you!"

Cray scribbled his name on the papers, "Don't thank me, just don't... you know."

Silvia smiled, looking at the papers, "Don't worry, brother-in-law, I'll take good care of him."

Silvia left the cell quickly, locking it so Cray couldn't escape. He sat back down on the floor, staring at a wall until he was needed for another fertility test.

* * *

 **{Rui's Point of View}**

 **-January 19th, 2042-**

 **[Status of the Game so far]**

 **Top Player of the Chapter: JPR**

 **Gender: Male**

 **Age: 18 Years old**

 **Level: 97**

 **Class: Frenzy Soldier**

 **Weapon: (Super Rare) FrostGrip**

 **Skills: 57**

 **Guild: NightWatchers**

 **Guild Leader: ElvenSightSeer (Level 91)**

 **Quests Completed: 2634**

 **Players left in the Game: 1.65**

 **Players that have died: 922,630**

 **Floor Bosses Defeated: 60**

 **Highest Floor Achieved: 42**

These last few months have been busy. Celebrating Christmas in here wasn't what I wanted... but it... was great. Everyone got a free exp boost, only 10%, and it allowed a lot of players to join the front lines. It's terrifying to think about how close we are to having one million deaths in this game. All those players who died... now Justin is among them. Ever since that ultra beast killed Justin, I've been a lot stronger. This time, I wasn't as harshly affected by it. I trained with my friends to fight off the loneliness, and sadness, so that I can improve. I was also there to make sure no one fell into a trap. I've been looking for the gardevoir village, but the front lines have been needing me every day. We're almost halfway there... halfway to freedom. When I think about it, is it really worth it? Life seems so normal now that we've been in here for such a long time. I just... I just wish there was a way to resurrect players... but there is no way. There is only death for us...

Jay invited me to a voice chat, I joined it, hearing him say, "Rui, how's it going man?

I shrugged, "I'm alright. I coped better than I thought I would. I hate the new nickname though."

Jay sighed, "Yeah... say, everyone's going to the grave stone in order to remember the dead. You wanna come with us?"

I thought about seeing Carly's name... but I still said no, "Not this time man. I'm looking for special information."

Jay asked, "Is it front lines stuff?"

I shook my head, "No, personal. I hope to see you soon."

I hung up on the chat, thinking about the memory stone. I visit it every week to see Carly's name. I miss her so much... I can't help but wonder what the game would be like if she lived. If she... just took that damn potion. I still failed her... why..? Why did Reaper have to ruin everything?

I opened up a message from an information broker, "Dear Murloc, I think I found out where the gardevoir live. My sources say they hide in a special forest on the 25th floor. Good luck getting there."

Silvia told me where she came from... but I had forgotten it months ago. My mind has been too focused on the front lines, so I've forgotten a lot of things. Even Carly's appearance slips my mind from time to time. Such a beautiful, kind girl... now I'm looking for another one. Silvia... an evil succubus gardevoir that raped me. Why am I looking for her? I know I shouldn't care about her, and yet, I do. Maybe it was Dark's fault, or maybe it's my fault. I was the one that looked for her months ago. Now, here I am again, looking for her. Like I walked in a big, fucking circle. Vulthurin has to take up the mantle of the frontlines now, especially with me on hiatus until Silvia is found. If she was still on my friend's list, then it'd be easy, but nope. She's gone. Well, floor 25, here I come.

* * *

 **(Floor 25)**

I remember the stories people told of this floor. Of players turning on each other at random, sometimes being raped by a pokemon just because the creator is a monster. This floor used to be Frontline members only until a few months ago. This floor has a lot of forests, lakes, and every September 28th, it has the nicest star light sky. I remember coming here during that day, looking at the stars. How can something fake be so beautiful?

I wandered through most of the forests, looking for any signs of the gardevoirs. A week passed before he finally found a scrap of evidence that the gardevoir exist in the forest. A player, low leveled, is tied up to a tree trunk as a warning.

She looked at me, crying, "Free me... please."

I cut her lose, "Did the gardevoir do this to you?"

She nodded, "Yes."

This is great news, so I asked, "Do you know where their village is?"

She shook her head no, "I was unconscious to and from there. I have no idea where they could be. Most likely, it's passed me."

I noticed she is level 30, "How long have you been stuck here?"

She looked down, "Ever since we got to this floor."

I flinched, "That... that means the search and rescue guild hasn't been doing their job. Ugh... Sadly that has to be dealt with later."

I gave her a teleport crystal, allowing this player to go to the tenth floor. Hopefully her guild members are still alive and can help her. I delved deeper into the forest, keeping my eyes open for any ambush attempts. I began to hear voices, knowing I'm getting closer.

"Gedoi var, gasu vi?"

"Veriz gard vasu vid. Hee hee hee."

They were speaking to each other in their own tongue, but I was ready for them when they pounced on me. With my one handed swordsmanship at level 10 now, I easy defeated them. They were only level 63, many levels below me. Silvia was a higher level than that when I first met her. Their dark, fairy and psychic attacks did nothing to me. My high level gives me a large resistance to their status afflictions.

I yelled, "Enough! Take me to your village."

One of them spoke, "Why are you searching for our village outsider?"

I told her the truth, "I'm looking for Silvia."

All of them flinched, glancing at one another, "How do you know her name?"

I put my sword away, "She's important to me."

They glared at me, "Silvia is dead."

I shook my head, "No, she's not."

Three of them glared at me as one stood in front of me, "How do you know?"

I tilted my head, "I don't, it's just a gut feeling."

She turned her head shamefully, "We can't beat you... so you've earned your right to enter our village. Know this, you cannot free any of our captives."

I bit my bottom lip for a moment before nodding, "Alright, lead the way."

She turned towards the others, yelling, "Voi geri garde."

* * *

The way to their village led me through an illusion. That's what makes this place so difficult to find. When we walked through, I was surprised to see such a large village. Wooden huts in trees, small houses on the ground, fields, berry farms, livestock, they had it all here. One thing that shocked me, is the amount of low leveled players they have trapped here. The first one we walked by, is level 5, and he must be a gardevoir's bitch.

Why I say this, because he got smacked onto the ground when he looked at me, "Gedoi geri!" The female gardevoir yelled.

The player whined, whimpering as he crawled into a stone home. The gardevoir followed him in, locking the door behind her. Two males, one gallade, one gardevoir, both have a girl stuck between them. They touched her hair, flirting with her as she seemed happy to get the attention. When she noticed me, she looked away ashamed.

The gallade looked at me, "Gevlad?"

I glared at him, "Fuck off."

He extended his elbow blade, "Glaw gev dar!"

I kept walking, ignoring him. In the field were a mix of NPCs and real players. A gardevoir watched them with a thorn notched whip, ready to hit anyone slacking off. Inside the village, higher level gardevoir and gallade roamed around, wearing armor made for them. That means they have smelting in this village. That's not normal, what were the creators planning for these psychotic pokemon? One human girl is getting fucked behind a building by three gallades. I don't know if it was rape or not, but it still urged me to attack. The reason I didn't... I needed to find Silvia.

I asked them, "Where are we going?"

The one from earlier said, "To meet the Matriarch, she'll talk to you."

I looked around more, thinking about this 'Matriarch'. She must be their leader, and if so, what has she done to change the gardevoir. I highly doubt they were like this at the start of the game, even Silvia stated that the succubus gardevoir were created to protect the peaceful gardevoir. Yet they seem to be a warmongering race of slavers. The deeper I got into the village, the more I felt threatened. I could see them all staring at me, eyeing me like predators getting ready to strike. In fact... I wanted them to attack. I could kill all of them myself and save the weaker players from feeling the fear of being kidnapped. With the players on the front dwindling every day, we need some sort of outburst. At least 20% of the player base is still on the first floor out of fear.

An NPC, boy, about 7, brown hair, thin body, approached me, "Do you have any food? My mistress took mine away for not working hard enough."

I knew I shouldn't have felt bad for him, but I did. I gave him a piece of bread and he looked so happy. I watched him eat it, thanking me with a bow before running back to his gardevoir mistress.

The gallade behind me said, "You shouldn't have done that."

I asked him, "Why? It wasn't right to let him or anyone else starve."

The gallade said, "He's not your responsibility. He would have been fed next time. It was just a small punishment. How will he learn if people show him such generosity?"

I looked over my shoulder at him, "Maybe he would work harder if you all were kinder to him. Instead of being assholes, have you ever tried being nice to get what you want?"

The gallade grunted something in their native tongue. If I had to take a guess, he probably called me stupid. After walking for another 5 minutes, we reached the entrance to a place they called the Sacred Grove. A large multitude of flowers are grown beside the path in a rainbow like pattern. I noticed graves, listing the names of those that died.

The gallade behind me muttered, "Do not be so surprised human. We can remember the dead as well."

I said to him, "Do you remember players who have died here as well?"

He grunted, "Of course we do. If you devote yourself to us, then why wouldn't we remember you?"

I glanced at him, "How would they die here if not by your hands."

He flinched, "We do not murder the good humans!"

I narrowed my eye, asking, "What do you mean by, 'good human.' Do you mean an obedient slave?"

He looked aside, "Maybe I do, what are you going to do about it?"

I gave him a cold stare, "I could kill you with my bare hands weakling. Trust me, you don't want one of the top players to be your enemy."

He viciously flinched, "S-Shut up! You're nothing compared to the succubus gardevoir!"

I smirked, "My mate _is_ a succubus gardevoir."

My escort suddenly jumped away from me, yelling, "Now!"

27 shadow balls and dark pulse were shot at me from the surrounding area. I stood there rolling my eyes as they collided with me in a small explosion. When the smoke cleared, a spiritual purple ribcage encased me, protecting me from their attack. I looked at their shocked expressions with a bored look.

I said to them, "Did you really think you could harm me?"

The gallade from earlier charged at me, extending his elbow to use psycho cut. Once it him my spiritual ribcage, a sickening Crack rang throughout the grove. Next, it was followed by his screams as he held his now broken arm. I made an arm appear, quickly grabbing the gallade in a firm grip. The thumb rubbed his head as he screamed in agony from being squeezed. With but a gentle push from my thumb, his neck is snap as I dropped his body to the floor. Everyone stared at his health bar going to 0 and making his body shatter.

I turned my spiritual ability off and said, "You see that, that'll be you if you don't take me to your leader in the next 15 seconds."

* * *

 **-15 Seconds Later -**

Three gardevoir quickly took me to their leader, the Matriarch they spoke of. What I found, baffled me. Their leader is Silvia, why hasn't she contacted me? Why didn't see come looking for me? I stared at her back in shock as the gardevoir quickly left.

Silvia never turned around, her demonic wings folded up, "So... you came."

I nodded, "Yes..."

Silvia sighed, "Did you come here for revenge?"

I shook my head, "No."

Silvia looked up, "Then why?"

I answered her quickly, "I came here looking for you. Why didn't you try to contact me?"

Silvia turned towards me, "I couldn't, I made a deal with the creator and he tricked me."

I asked, "What do you mean he tricked you?"

Silvia closed her eyes, "I was murdered here... but dying here only sent me back to the real world. The creator is using the dead human souls to make pokemon real."

I stared at her in shock, "He's doing what!?"

Silvia sighed sadly, "You heard me correctly Rui. The stronger the player is, the more essence his soul produces."

I then said, "Then you've got to help me!"

Silvia shook her head no, "I'm sorry Rui, but I can't."

I frowned, "Why Silvia?"

Silvia looked down, "I'm not allowed to leave this floor."

I stopped frowning, "Then I'll get you off this floor."

Silvia shook her head again, "Rui, it's not possible. The creator of the game made it impossible for me to leave."

I said, "Nothing is impossible if we work together."

Silvia giggled at that, "That was really cheesy Rui."

I walked over to her, hugging her, "I'm a cheesy person I guess."

Silvia agreed, she's still taller than me, "Rui, what is it that you want?"

I said, "I want you to be with me forever."

Silvia hugged me, "Why? I hurt you... I used you... why would you want someone as distasteful as me?"

I nuzzled her shoulder, "I don't care about any of that Silvia. I'm your mate, right?"

I could tell Silvia was smiling, "You're damn right I am. No one else is ever allowed to have you."

I chuckled, "You're the jealous type."

Silvia nipped my ear, "No. I'm the protective type. You're mine, right?"

I nodded, "Yes, I'm yours Silvia."

Silvia pulled back, "Okay, so how will we get me out of here?"

I pulled out a teleport crystal, "We use the basics."

I grabbed Silvia's hand and tried to use the teleport crystal. It didn't activate, making me look at it in disappointment. Silvia eyed me, looking at my level and equipment.

Silvia then asked, "How are you certain I'm Silvia?"

I looked at her, "You want me to punch you and find out?"

Silvia shook her head, "You certainly gained some balls in my absence."

I shrugged, "I learned a lot in the recent months. I learned why I loved you, despite you being a bitch who raped me."

Silvia scratched her chin nervously, "You're not still mad about that, right?"

I smirked at her, "Oh, I'm not mad. I'll just torture you when we get to my new apartment."

Silvia got away from me, "No way!"

I started laughing, "Don't be like that, I'm only joking."

Silvia pouted, "Don't be mean to me."

I held her hand, "Come on. We have a long walk ahead of us."

Silvia asked, "What do you mean?"

I wrapped an arm around her, "I'll walk you back to my home, just the two of us."

Silvia blushed, "Won't that take days?"

I nodded, "Yep, but that gives us plenty of time to catch up."

Silvia looked nervous, "What about my people... they need me."

I shtugged, "Fuck them. They can survive without you."

Silvia shook her head, "No. There's only one way to settle this."

I looked at her in the eyes and asked, "That is?"

Silvia took a brave breath, "You have to beat me in a one on one battle."

* * *

 **(That's the end of this chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it, despite the long wait. I'm not feeling very happy lately, I've gotten sick and have been dealing with something that greatly saddened me. Also, I started a , if you look at my page, you'll see it, but to make the link, you have to remove the #. Please review, favorite, and follow to support the story. Also, I'm writing my own original story on my , first 5 chapters will be free but after that, they will be only. I hope you guys still read what you can, I love your feedback.)**


End file.
